20 augustus 2011
- 11 september 2011
Vuelta a Espana - part 2
On Wednesday August 31st, the Vuelta a Espana continued after
it's first rest day with a mountain stage from Verín to Estación de
Montaña Manzaneda over 171 km. Frenchman David Moncoutié was one of
the 19 early breakaway riders and he managed to hold his group to
cross the finish line at the Montaña Manzaneda. Koen crossed the
line in the first big group 17'14" down in 93rd place.
The 12th stage finished in a mass sprint but the stage did
manage to cause time differences. The finale had a small climb
which finished five hundred metres from the line which clearly took
its toll on a lot of riders. Skil-Shimano sprinter Marcel Kittel
was one of such riders. Kittel was not able to dispute the sprint
that Peter Sagan (Liquigas) won ahead of soon-to-be Skil-Shimano
rider John Degenkolb (HTC-Highroad). "This finale and the lead up
to it were just too tough'" sporting director Rudi Kemna said
afterwards. "The team worked very hard and well together but the
parcours was not for us." Koen crossed the line in 77th place at 31
seconds from Sagan.
Friday's mountain stage went from Sarria to Ponferrada over
158.2km with several climbs including two first category climbs.
Koen was in the shrunken peloton of about 40 riders that would
cross the line 1'33" down on Swiss stage winner Michael Albasini.
Koen crossed the line in a great 24th place. Albasini won the
sprint from the leading group of 20 riders. The 20 group was the
remnants of a 28 breakaway group that formed after about 50km on
the lead up to the Folgueiras de Aigas, the first of the two first
category cols. Despite several attacks, it came down to a sprint
out of that leading group for the stage win.
Saturday's stage was once again a mountain tage. The stage was
harder than the day before as during the final 100km there was a
second category climb that was followed shortly by a first category
climb with the stage ending on a summit finish of hors categorie
climb. The stage was won by Estonian Rein Tarrmae. Koen crossed the
line 23'43" in 90th place. Dutchman Bauke Mollema climbed up to 3rd
place overall due to performing well on the climb.
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Photo: Koen after the finish of the 14th stage (with thanks
to Cor Vos)
Sunday's 15th stage went from Avilés to the Alto de L'Angliru
over 142.2 km. This was once again a very hard mountain stage with
a second category climb followed by a first category climb. The
first category climb was immediately followed by the extremely
challenging hors categorie Angliru climb. The Angliru climb has
many sections with gradients greater than 20%. Koen got through the
stage fairly well and crossed the line in 86th place, 15'20" down
on Spaniard Juan José Cobo who won with an advantage of 48 seconds
on Dutchman Wout Poels. Cobo took over the leaders jersey from
Britain's Bradley Wiggins.
The Argentinean Juan José Haedo won Tuesday's 16th stage of the
Vuelta a Espana. The Saxo Bank-Sungard rider was able to take
advantage of the chaos in the peloton during the final kilometre.
Several riders at the front of the peloton chose by the roundabout
at about 400m to go the wrong side and saw their chances for
victory immediately go up in smoke. Haedo, who to his own surprise
found himself in the lead with a gap on the rest, was able to win
easily. Italians Alessandro Petacchi and Daniele Bennati finished
2nd and 3rd respectively.
Due to the riders ahead of him taking the wrong side Koen found
himself distanced from the leading riders and he was unable to
start his sprint from behind another rider. Koen still managed to
sprint to a wonderful 6th place and was the best Dutchman in the
stage result. The stage had taken the peloton from Villa Romana La
Olmeda to Haro.
Wednesday's stage was to be the longest stage of the Vuelta
bringing the riders from Faustino V to Peña Cabarga over a distance
of 211 km. Koen's German teammate Johannes Frohlinger was present
in the leading group twice during the stage. Firstly he was
involved in a breakaway attempt of 21 riders and then after 120km
he went on the attack with four others. His group were not able to
gain an advantage greater than a minute and a half and they were
caught at the start of the finale. Koen was able to stay with the
leading group for a long time on the finishing climb before
eventually dropping off from the shrunken peloton and letting the
favourites go on ahead. Brit Christopher Froome won the stage ahead
of Spaniard and general classification leader Cobo. Koen crossed
the line in 51st place at 6'06" from Froome.
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On Thursday September 8th, on Koen's birthday, the stage went
from Solares to Noja over 174.6km. Koen's teammate Albert Timmer
attacked after 3km and he was joined by 16 riders including
Skil-Shimano teammate Alexandre Geniez. With two Skil-Shimano
riders up the road it meant that Koen was able to have a relatively
easy birthday. In the finale of the race, after several climbs, the
leading group broke apart. Ten riders got away and would dispute
the win. Kristof Vandewalle and Francesco Gravazzi broke away in
the final kilometres and Gavazzi outsprinted his companion for the
stage. Koen crossed the line in 27th place, 7'42" down.
Friday's stage saw the Vuelta return to the Basque country for the
first time since 1978. The stage went from Boja to Bilbao over a
distance of 158.5km and included several hard climbs. As expected
the Basque riders went on the attack and in the end it was the
Basque country's true climbing talent Igor Anton that soloed to the
victory. Koen crossed the line in a group of about 40 riders,
11'37" after Anton, in 68th place.
During the penultimate stage on September 10th from Bilbao to
Vitoria which brought the peloton over 185km, a breakaway group
formed very early in the stage of 26 riders. Koen was part of that
group. During several of the climbs on the stage Koen picked up a
few points which enabled him to finish the Vuelta with 10th place
in the Mountains Classification. During the day's final climb, and
hence the last of this year's Vuelta, the breakaway group broke
apart and Koen had to drop off from the leading riders. With about
50km to go he was caught by the peloton but he was able to hold on.
If he was able to follow all the way to the top of the climb is not
known, but on the descent a group of 80 riders formed which Koen
was part of and this group chased the final riders from the early
breakaway. The Spaniard Carlos Barredo held an advantage for quite
some time but he was joined by a rider from the peloton and
compatriot Carlos Sastre who tried to break away in the finale of
the stage. In the end the stage was to be decided in a mass sprint
that was won by the Italian sprinter Daniele Bennati. Koen finished
an excellent 5th.
Photo: Koen crosses the line in 5th in the sprint behind Bennati
(with thanks to Cor Vos) |
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On Sunday September 11th the concluding stage of the Vuelta a
Espana brought the peloton over a relatively short 95.6km to the
finish in Madrid. The stage concluded in the expected mass sprint.
Tom Veelers launched Koen for the sprint but the well known
sprinters did not let Koen get a gap and hence Koen crossed the
line in 8th place, an excellent result and Koen's fourth top ten
stage result in the Vuelta. Slovak Peter Sagan beat Saturday's
stage winner Italian Daniele Bennati. Alessandro Petacchi finished
in 3rd.
Spaniard Juan Jose Cobo won the overall classification ahead of
Briton Chris Froome with the slender advantage of 13 seconds.
Froome's compatriot and teammate Bradley Wiggins finished in 3rd
place at 1'39". Dutchman Bauke Mollema won the points jersey by
finishing 9th in the final stage and 4th overall, 2'03" down on
Cobo. Koen finished in 68th place overall 2h18'40" from Cobo. Koen
finished 10th in the mountains competition, 30th in the points
competition and 19th in the combined classification.