Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) claimed stage 13 of this years’s Vuelta a Espana today, with a solo finish atop the last climb of the Parque de Cabárceno.
Navarro accelerated during the final climb, leaving second and third place finishers, Daniel Moreno (Katusha) and Wilco Kelderman (Belkin), struggling in his wake.
Today’s win marked Navarro’s first victory of the season, and arguably the biggest of his career.
Meanwhile, the other top GC contenders, race leader Alberto Contador and Chris Froome, finished just five seconds behind. However, Contador still safely retained his 20-second lead over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
Race Highlights
A 14-rider breakaway group split from the peloton at the outset of today’s stage. However, the escapees failed to open up a significant advantage over the peloton.
As race entered into the first of today’s three, third-category climbs, the group was reduced to 11 riders. And, as the escapees tackled the climbs, more and more riders began falling off the pace, eventually leaving only Alexey Lutsenko out front alone. However, the Astana rider was later caught inside the final 7 kilometers.
From there, Sky, Katusha and Tinkoff-Saxo were active at the front of the peloton during the final 5 kilometers, in order to prevent any attacks before the final sharp ascent to the finish.
Gianluca Brambilla (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) was the first to attack as the road reared up, who was quickly joined by Navarro – who subsequently rode clear as Brambilla failed to stay onboard with the Spanish rider.
Behind, Froome put in an attack, but he was quickly marked by Valverde. Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) rode clear in a short-lived attack as well, just before Moreno and Kelderman set-off in pursuit of Navarro. But no-one could catch the Cofis rider, who took the victory alone.
Stage 13 Results
ESP 1 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) 4:21:04 ESP 2 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) + 2 NED 3 KELDERMAN, Wilco (BELKIN) ESP 4 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 5 FRA 5 BOUHANNI, Nacer (FDJ.fr) ITA 6 CARUSO, Damiano (CANNONDALE) ESP 7 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) NED 8 GESINK, Robert (BELKIN) IRL 9 MARTIN, Daniel (GARMIN SHARP) ITA 10 BRAMBILLA, Gianluca (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) ESP 11 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) COL 12 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) GBR 13 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) ESP 14 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) ESP 15 BILBAO, Peio (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) ITA 16 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) ITA 17 CARUSO, Giampaolo (KATUSHA) ESP 18 PARDILLA BELLON, Sergio (MTN – QHUBEKA) FRA 19 MONDORY, Lloyd (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 16 ITA 20 POZZATO, Filippo (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 20 COL 21 ANACONA GOMEZ, Winner (LAMPRE – MERIDA) RUS 22 KOLOBNEV, Alexandr (KATUSHA) BEL 23 DEBUSSCHERE, Jens (LOTTO BELISOL) POR 24 CARDOSO, Andre Fernando S. Martins (GARMIN SHARP) COL 25 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) BEL 26 GILBERT, Philippe (BMC RACING) FRA 27 SICARD, Romain (EUROPCAR) BEL 28 SERRY, Pieter (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) GER 29 NERZ, Dominik (BMC RACING) ESP 30 ARROYO DURAN, David (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) BEL 31 MONFORT, Maxime (LOTTO BELISOL) NED 32 POELS, Wouter (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) ESP 33 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) ESP 34 LOSADA ALGUACIL, Alberto (KATUSHA) EST 35 KANGERT, Tanel (ASTANA) POL 36 NIEMIEC, Przemyslaw (LAMPRE – MERIDA) ERI 37 TEKLEHAIMANOT, Daniel (MTN – QHUBEKA) RSA 38 VENTER, Christo (MTN – QHUBEKA) FRA 39 COPPEL, Jerome (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) ITA 40 CATALDO, Dario (SKY)
General Classification after Stage 13 ESP 1 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) 48:59:23 ESP 2 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 20 COL 3 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 1:08 GBR 4 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 1:20 ESP 5 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 1:35 ESP 6 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) + 1:52 ITA 7 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 2:13 COL 8 ANACONA GOMEZ, Winner (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 2:37 NED 9 GESINK, Robert (BELKIN) + 2:55 ITA 10 CARUSO, Damiano (CANNONDALE) + 3:51 IRL 11 MARTIN, Daniel (GARMIN SHARP) + 3:59 ESP 12 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 4:11 NED 13 KELDERMAN, Wilco (BELKIN) + 4:53 ESP 14 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) + 6:01 ESP 15 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) + 7:34 ESP 16 PARDILLA BELLON, Sergio (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 8:47 COL 17 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 8:59 BEL 18 MONFORT, Maxime (LOTTO BELISOL) + 9:30 BEL 19 SERRY, Pieter (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 10:34 POL 20 NIEMIEC, Przemyslaw (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 11:02
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