Alberto Contador won stage 1 of the 2014 Vuelta al País Vasco in Ordizia, Spain today. The Spanish rider rode to a solo victory, following 153 kilometers of racing that featured no fewer than eight categorized climbs.
Meanwhile, Alejandro Valverde finished in second at 14 seconds behind, with Michal Kwiatkowski rounding out the podium in third.
How the Race Unfolded
With less than 9 kilometers remaining, Contador and Valverde attacked on the final climb of the Alto de Gaintza, subsequently leaving race favorites such as Kwiatkowski, Cadel Evans, Damiano Cunego, Yury Trofimov, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Mikel Nieve, to form a small chase group.
Contador proceeded to shadow is his fellow countryman along the climb, until they reached the final, steep few meters, when the Spanish rider initiated an attack that left Valverde struggling in his wake.
Valverde followed over the summit 15 seconds later, while the chase group crested the climb a further 19 seconds adrift.
From there, Contador commenced a daring descent of the climb to claim the stage victory.
In the meantime, Kwiatkowski attacked from within the chase group – managing to hold off his former companions by a mere 2 seconds on the line to claim third spot on the podium – 34 seconds behind the winner.
The Vuelta al País Vasco continues with stage 2 tomorrow – a 155 kilometer route from Ordizia to Dantxarinea (Urdazubi).
Stage 1 Results ESP 1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) 4:05:07 ESP 2 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 14 POL 3 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 34 RUS 4 TROFIMOV, Yury (KATUSHA) + 36 ITA 5 CUNEGO, Damiano (LAMPRE – MERIDA) FRA 6 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ESP 7 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) AUS 8 EVANS, Cadel (BMC RACING) CZE 9 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 54 ESP 10 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) FRA 11 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ.fr) + 56 JPN 12 ARASHIRO, Yukiya (EUROPCAR) NED 13 SLAGTER, Tom Jelte (GARMIN SHARP) NED 14 POELS, Wouter (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 58 ESP 15 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) NED 16 GESINK, Robert (BELKIN) BEL 17 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (LOTTO BELISOL) USA 18 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) GBR 19 YATES, Simon (ORICA GreenEDGE) FRA 20 GADRET, John (MOVISTAR) CRO 21 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TREK FACTORY RACING) LUX 22 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK FACTORY RACING) SLO 23 SPILAK, Simon (KATUSHA) RUS 24 CHERNETSKI, Sergei (KATUSHA) POR 25 CARDOSO, Andre Fernando S. Martins (GARMIN SHARP)
General Classification after Stage 1 ESP 1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) 4:05:07 ESP 2 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 14 POL 3 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 34 RUS 4 TROFIMOV, Yury (KATUSHA) + 36 ITA 5 CUNEGO, Damiano (LAMPRE – MERIDA) FRA 6 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ESP 7 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) AUS 8 EVANS, Cadel (BMC RACING) CZE 9 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 54 ESP 10 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) FRA 11 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ.fr) + 56 JPN 12 ARASHIRO, Yukiya (EUROPCAR)
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