Murcia: Matthews Takes the Opener!

Michael Matthews may just be making a case for himself at the Grand Tours this summer. He yet again proved his worth as a top-level sprinter with an impressive victory at the first stage of the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia Friday afternoon.

This wasn't the easiest course for sprinters to navigate, and several of them including Bling's Rabobank teammate Theo Bos were lagging just behind as the field closed in on the finish.

Matthews kicked incredibly hard to hold off a pair of Sky boys (Russ Downing and Davide Appollonio) for the win. Rabobank is pretty deep in sprint talent with Graeme Brown and Theo Bos (who both worked for Bling today), but Matthews has been clearly the strongest so far this year. I know it may sound foolish to put your Tour hopes on a first year sprinter, but this guy is proving himself to be much more than your average rookie.

The mountains had their effect on the riders today, but didn't really affect the overall standings that much. There was a group that came in at -2, another at -20, and most of the rest just behind them at -37.

Alberto Contador was protected perfectly by fellow Spaniard Daniel Navarro and the rest of Saxo Bank and he finished right with the leaders at -2. He seems like he is going to stay in Spain for a while, so races like this are good for him to gain his form for the summer.

This was also the debut of another famous Spaniard.

Carlos Sastre made his debut as a Geox-TMC rider today. He finished with the -37 group, which isn't a bad result for someone just starting to work on their form.

Also in that group was Carlos Barredo, who is also just getting back into form after serving his suspension in the beginning of the year. (remember the bike wheel incident)

But today may have only been the warmup...

Results

1. Michael Matthews

2. Russell Downing

3. Davide Appollonio

10. Jerome Coppel

14. Alberto Contador -2

17. Rafael Valls

20. Alex Dowsett

21. Denis Menchov

42. Graeme Brown

49. Tom Danielson -20

64. Christian Vandevelde -31

74. Carlos Sastre -37

78. Carlos Barredo

89. Dave Zabriskie

Points

Michael Matthews (25)

Teams

Skil-Shimano

Stage 2

In a race that's only 3 stages long, every single one is huge. But this one especially because it's the last one remaining that's not a TT. I'd expect quite the showdown (probably 20-30 riders) on the final climb.