Philippe Gilbert is referred to by many as a "specialist." If this is true, than I guess today's stage 3 of the Vuelta was a special kind of day. Gilbert seized the opportunity presented to him with the catch of Serafin Martinez after the Spanish rider just ran out of steam in the final kilometer of the race and was caught by the charging peloton. Just after that is when Gilbert chose to make his move with a massive acceleration about 700 meters away from the stripe to win both the stage and the race lead. Joaquim Rodriguez tried his best to give chase but fell just 3 seconds short at the line. Many of the race favorites finished in a splintered peloton about 13-25 seconds behind Gilbert and did not lose an incredibly serious chunk of time. This was not the case for morning leader Mark Cavendish.
Cavendish tried to stay with the field, but he finally had to give up and join the rest of the sprinters in the Grupetto. Andy Schleck had an equally bad day, finishing in one of the other late arriving groups and losing about 14 minutes in the process. This guarantees him out of contention and relegates him to a domestique for brother Frank. Whether or not Andy's lack of effort was planned is debated, as he did say that Frank was the leader all along. Still, I see that to be no reason why Andy would lose so much time at once so I think he was just having a bad day. Christian Vande Velde also had a bad day, though he could at least laugh about it. Vande Velde crashed after slipping on a road covered in olive oil (yes you read that correctly) as part of a multi-rider pileup next to the factory. He was not injured and finished in the group with Andy Schleck.
Tomorrow's stage is hard to predict, because it looks perfect for a breakaway but that last climb at the end looks enticing for a solo attack. I guess we'll just have to watch and find out.
Philippe Gilbert is referred to by many as a "specialist." If this is true, than I guess today's stage 3 of the Vuelta was a special kind of day. Gilbert seized the opportunity presented to him with the catch of Serafin Martinez after the Spanish rider just ran out of steam in the final kilometer of the race and was caught by the charging peloton. Just after that is when Gilbert chose to make his move with a massive acceleration about 700 meters away from the stripe to win both the stage and the race lead. Joaquim Rodriguez tried his best to give chase but fell just 3 seconds short at the line. Many of the race favorites finished in a splintered peloton about 13-25 seconds behind Gilbert and did not lose an incredibly serious chunk of time. This was not the case for morning leader Mark Cavendish.
Cavendish tried to stay with the field, but he finally had to give up and join the rest of the sprinters in the Grupetto. Andy Schleck had an equally bad day, finishing in one of the other late arriving groups and losing about 14 minutes in the process. This guarantees him out of contention and relegates him to a domestique for brother Frank. Whether or not Andy's lack of effort was planned is debated, as he did say that Frank was the leader all along. Still, I see that to be no reason why Andy would lose so much time at once so I think he was just having a bad day. Christian Vande Velde also had a bad day, though he could at least laugh about it. Vande Velde crashed after slipping on a road covered in olive oil (yes you read that correctly) as part of a multi-rider pileup next to the factory. He was not injured and finished in the group with Andy Schleck.
Tomorrow's stage is hard to predict, because it looks perfect for a breakaway but that last climb at the end looks enticing for a solo attack. I guess we'll just have to watch and find out.
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