Koldo sprints to maiden 2010 win

After months of near-misses and second places, Koldo finally opened his winning account by taking out the first stage of the Vuelta a Burgos. The team lined it up perfectly for him and Koldo held off nearest challenger Maes to take his tenth win as a pro. It's Euskaltel's ninth of the season and, judging by recent form, quite a few more can be expected before season's end. Speaking after getting off the podium, the Álava native said: "Finally we got the win. It's been a hard season for me. I've been feeling good, but I haven't been able to finish it off and take the wins. The team worked phenomenally today. To have an Olympic champion at your service driving the peloton up the climbs to reel in breaks is a luxury. I suffered up the climb, but getting over it was worth the pain. Sicard, Nieve and Antón in the final part, and Pablo, Aitor and Juanjo earlier... They all did really well and I want to say thanks." Due to their work early on in the stage, Pablo, Aitor H and JJ suffered towards the end. Pablo ended up 4:07 down, while the latter two crossed the line 7:52 adrift. Except for that trio, everyone else finished the stage inside the peloton.

As for Orbea, Jon Izagirre and Mikel Landa managed to stay with the pack. The rest of the youngsters all ended up at 4:07 except for Mikel Ilundain who came in with that last group at 7:52. Ilundain made it into the break of the day though, and will no doubt be happy about having secured the lead in the Metas Volantes competition.