Astarloza and Samu brilliant
Mikel jumped away early on, and the break built a gap of 4:30 at the maximum. Mikel was not in the hunt for the climber`s jersey, but claimed second place behind Beltrán on several climbs. Eventually, on the second to last climb, Redondo and Beltrán jumped away. Mikel missed the move initially, but with an outstanding surge managed to bridge the 20 second gap up to the two leaders. Mikel clung on admirably, and with some powerful turns at the front gave the break a chance to succeed. With three km to go on the last climb, Redondo and Beltrán broke away yet again, and this time, despite his best efforts, Mikel couldn`t keep up. The attacking started back in a quickly-decreasing leading group, and with 1 km to go, Mikel was caught. Beltrán and Redondo, in that order, made it to the finish line. Samu attacked at the end, and grabbed a valuable 4th place, only 5 seconds behind 3rd place getter Goméz Marchante. By doing so, Samu advanced to 6th overall, only 17 seconds adrift of leader Cobo. Just to point out Samu`s brilliant riding, he now is ahead of riders like Rebellin, Rodríguez, Valverde, Schleck, Cunego, Di Luca and Colom on GC. Mikel didn`t drop like a stone through the peloton when he was catched, and ended up an impressing 19th, 1 minute adrift, ahead of the likes of Di Luca and Schumacher. Overall, Mikel lies pretty in 19th, 1:06 back. Aitor Hernández unfortunately lost his jersey, the mountains jersey, as Beltrán overtook him by a mere 3 points. Euskaltel finished the day 8th in the team rankings, and occupy the same place overall. Here`s the complete list of how the Euskaltel riders placed:
- 4th, Samu Sánchez, 0:24
- 19th, Mikel Astarloza, 1:00
- 58th, Gorka Verdugo, 4:44
- 67th, Rúben Pérez, 6:27
- 86th, Jorge Azanza, 12:13
- 157th, Unai Etxebarria, 18:10
- 162nd, Aitor Hernández, 18:10
- 166th, Iñigo Landaluze, 18:10
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