Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Antón time trials out of top 10

The Vuelta a España's stage 11 individual time trial turned out to be just as detrimental to Igor Antón's general classification ambitions as was feared: The Euskaltel captain finished 49th, 3:38 down on winner Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana), and thus dropped to 11th overall.

While Contador, Froome, Rodríguez and Valverde impressed and all finished inside the top seven, Antón was off the pace right from the off and had ceded a big 1:17 by the first time check after only 13,5 clicks. Way down in 77th prior to the cat.3 climb, he naturally advanced a few places by the second time check (52nd) at the top, and pretty much maintained this position all the way to the line.

By stage's end he had ceded time to every single rider inside the top ten prior to the stage, and duly dropped from eighth to 11th. Now a full 5:28 down on red jersey Rodríguez and 3:02 back on Gesink in fifth, getting close to the top five will now be a major challenge.

Speaking post-stage, Antón admitted it hadn't been his best day before going on to repeat what he's been saying pretty much since day one: he's optimistic and looking forward to the rest of the race.

"It was a time trial that sort of mirrored this whole race for me; feeling good some days, and then feeling not so good other days. In Andorra and Barcelona I felt better, but today wasn't as good. But I remain calm; I know I did a good job prior to this race and sooner or later it will pay off. The Vuelta is still long and I'm still optimistic. I'm confident in my abilities and the job I did to reach the Vuelta in good form", he told the team's website.

Mikel Astarloza had an okay day in the saddle on his way to 25th, while Gorka Verdugo and Romain Sicard weren't far off in 32nd and 39th respectively.

Results stage 11:
  • (1, Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana), 52:36:00)
  • 25, Mikel Astarloza, 2:37
  • 32, Gorka Verdugo, 2:51
  • 39, Romain Sicard, 3:05
  • 49, Igor Antón, 3:38
  • 61, Amets Txurruka, 4:03
  • 95, Rubén Pérez, 5:18
  • 108, Juan José Oroz, 5:51
  • 112, Mikel Landa, 6:05
  • 118, Iván Velasco, 6:14
General classification:
  • (1, Joaquín Rodríguez (Katusha), 40:26:15)
  • 11, Igor Antón, 5:28
  • 21, Gorka Verdugo, 7:24
  • 28, Amets Txurruka, 11:11
  • 32, Mikel Astarloza, 13:29
  • 38, Iván Velasco, 18:17
  • 40, Juan José Oroz, 19:55
  • 41, Romain Sicard, 20:39
  • 86, Rubén Pérez, 49:15
  • 92, Mikel Landa, 51:13
Check out tomorrow's stage here.

Photo: www.fundacioneuskadi.com

5 comments:

Kristof said...

Maybe he can ask Rodriguez how you turn a ridiculous bad TT'er turn into a very good one?

Magnus said...

Yeah, if Rodríguez managed it at a relatively advanced age, Igor should be able too as well!

Stephen said...

The TTT was much better and they said that they had been working hard at it, I can only hope that there is a focus on TT's in the next few years as it is a vital part of stage racing. No good winning by 30seconds up a mountain if you loose 3mins in the TT.

Kristof, is your suspicious nature comming to the fore again? :-)

Kristof said...

@ Stephen : No, I really like Purito, he's an attractive rider. Offcourse it's your good right to read my question like you want it;-). Fact is Rodriguez/Moreno have surely much improved since they wear Katusha shirts, but the fact they do not have to work for Valverde may also have its influence. And about our TT hopes, if we only had still Castro and Intxausti in our team... Getting these two guys back would be the best thing ever happening to our team.

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