Samu takes stage and lead in Burgos

Samuel today made it two in a row for Euskaltel as he took out the lumpy second stage in the Vuelta a Burgos. In the process he also took the leader's jersey and will now aim to keep it 'til the end. Due to the profile of the stage, with the goal-line at the top of the third category Alto de San Juan del Monte, Euskaltel, and Samu in particular, fancied their chances. As a result Euskaltel took on the responsability of keeping the day's two-man break, in which Orbea's Beñat Urain figured, within touching distance all day. The whole team did an amazing job and got Samu into the perfect position. Spain champ José Iván Gutierrez darted away with Samu inside the last kilometre and the two quickly built up an unassailable lead. As expected Samu came around Gutierrez to easily claim Euskaltel's tenth win of the year. Afterwards, Samu stated the following: "We're going to enjoy these triumphs. It's rare to get back-to-back wins, so we'll enjoy it the best we can. Coming out of the Tour you often have good form, but you're also quite tired. Two key days remain, the team time trial tomorrow and the stage to the Lagunas de Neila, but that's for later". The other guys in orange were naturally left exhausted after doing all the work on the front. Mikel Nieve was best of the rest in 28th place at 26 seconds, while Igor Antón and Romain Sicard came in at 33. JJ was 111th at 3:07, while the remaining trio, that being Pablo, Koldo and Aitor H, ended up at 6:55.


As mentioned above, Beñat Urain made the day a success for Orbea by infiltrating in the main break. Even more importantly for the team though was the fact that Mikel Ilundain clung on to his Metas Volantes jersey. Jon Izagirre performed well to come in alongside Mikel Nieve, while Mikel Landa crossed the line together with (future team-mates?) Igor and Romain. Joseba Laralde was 1:03 adrift, while Ricardo García ended up in 67th place at 1:27, Aritz Etxebarria was 88th at 2:04, Mikel Ilundain was 113th at 3:07, Xabier Zabalo was 127th at 6:55 and Beñat Urain concluded an adventorous day out dead last at 6:57.