Rubiano awarded as most combative rider after the breakaway, Torres with the strongest in the uphill finish
Claudio Corti had warned: “The early days will be the most difficult for us, our Vuelta a Espana will start in Sierra de Cazorla.”
His Colombia-Coldeportes’ guys did not let him down in the sixth stage, Cordoba-Sierra de Cazorla (200 km), delivering a courageous and aggressive performance on the day that featured the second uphill finish of the Vuelta. After surrendering the lead for only one second in yesterday’s stage, Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE) claimed it back in eloquent fashion, enjoying a solo win atop the Alto de Cazorla, a 4 km ascent with gradients peaking at 15%.
Five seconds behind him at the finish was Daniel Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) and yesterday’s leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin). But the 30-man group included Rodolfo Torres, 27th at 20 seconds. “Today’s was another short and punchy climb, not so suited to my characteristics, and coming at the end of a hot and tough day. That’s why it was so important for me to show that I could hold on with the strongest on this finish, and this gives me a morale boost thinking of tomorrow’s stage,” Rodolfo said just after the finishing, still catching his breath after such an intense effort.
Before Torres, another Escarabajo had been in the spotlight under the hot Andalusian sun.: When five riders finally managed to defy the peloton’s resistance after 50 km at a frantic pace, Miguel Angel Rubiano did not hesitate for a second before launching himself in a difficult and spectacular chase. Upfront, Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka), Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quickstep), Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Peter Velits (BMC) and Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida) were pushing at good pace, forcing Rubiano to reach his limit, even overcoming an accident.
“I was getting closer, just a few hundred meters away, and in a long bend to left my bike simply slipped away, and I hit the ground,” Miguel said, showing the abrasions on his left arm. “The race doctor treated my wounds, and then I got back to the chase. The guys upfront did not make my life easy: every time I was 10 seconds adrift, they would accelerate again. After 10km at full effort, I finally bridged back in the feed zone.”
With Gautier sitting 3.10 behind in the overall classification, the escapees were not given much room by the peloton led by Giant-Alpecin. Their margin was reduced to under a minute inside the final 20 km. Despite earlier efforts, it was Rubiano who tried to go alone with 15 km to go, but Cummings moved on the counterattack. The Brit managed to stay clear until 2,5 km to go, when Esteban Chaves launched a strong attack, with nobody able to stay in his wake. The former Colombia-Coldeportes rider now leads the overall with 10 seconds on Dumoulin, while Rodolfo Torres is the best Escarabajo in 31st position, 3.43 adrift.
Even though the breakaway did not succeed, Rubiano’s determination was still rewarded with the most combative rider award: “I am happy with this title, as I really gave everything I could in this action. But it’s not over: tomorrow I will need to recover a bit, but I am already thinking of some stages where I could give it another go.”
Tomorrow, Friday, the road keeps pointing up with the first high-mountain finish of the Vuelta a Espana: 191 km are waiting between Jodar and Alpujarra, with the 19 final kilometres to the Alto di Capileira (1st category) to test the ambitions of the top Vuelta contenders.
Capillera
Sierra de Cazorla (Spain), August 27th, 2015
