Burgos: Sanchez Grabs the Lead

Less than two weeks after his 4th place finish on the world's biggest stage, Samuel Sanchez wasted no time getting back to form in the Vuelta a Burgos. Sanchez got himself into a breakaway with other race favorite Ivan Gutierrez and then outsprinted Gutierrez to the line on the tough summit finish. The attacks on the final climb were started by Gutierrez's Caisse d'Epargne teammate David Lopez. Once it was a sure thing that Lopez would be caught, Gutierrez accelerated vigorously but Sanchez held onto his wheel closely. Once the finish line was in sight, Sanchez used his advantage of being behind Gutierrez very well and surprised him with an attack to the line. Gutierrez tried to match it, but instead had to settle for 2nd while Kristof Vanderwalle took third 4 seconds behind. There were some minor time gaps that opened on this tricky summit finish, but certainly not enough to shed any light on the overall outlook of the event. It can be said though that if Sanchez holds his form so nicely that it will be very hard for anyone to match.
Stage Results
1. Samuel Sanchez
2. Ivan Gutierrez
3. Kristof Vanderwalle
General Classification
1. Samuel Sanchez
2. Ivan Gutierrez -s.t
3. Kristof Vanderwalle -4
4. Gianpaolo Caruso -6
5. David Lopez -9
6. Morris Possoni -9
7. Oliver Zaugg -9
8. David Garcia -16
9. Andrea Noe -16
10. Ezequiel Mosquera -16
19. Vladmir Karpets -20
25. Vincenzo Nibali -26
Points
1. Samuel Sanchez 25
2. Koldo Fernandez 25
3. Ivan Gutierrez 20
King of the Mountains
1. Manuel Calvente 15
2. Jose Toribio 10
3. Ivan Gutierrez 10
Team Standings
1. Caisse d'Epargne
2. Xacobeo Galicia
3. Liquigas

Tomorrow's team time trial should be one of the defining stages of the race. It is completely flat, so it should be a matter of which team wants it more. Though it will separate the field a bit more, it is short enough that time lost tomorrow should still be manageable to recover afterwards.