He set his front sight in yesterday's sprint in Adra and shot to the center in the uphill finish of Jaén on Tuesday. Fran Ventoso has given Movistar Team their fourth victory as the telephone squad continue with their excellent season start since they took up competing last month on Australian soil.
Ventoso took an emphathic victory at the mass sprint which got the third stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía to an end, the race offering a rolling parcours of 175km starting in Otura which saw continuous attacks until a quartet opened a gap with two hours of racing already done and dusted. Movistar Team’s Chente García Acosta made the group and accomplished a decisive piece of work so his teammates could ride easier behind, the bunch controlled by race leader’s team Radioshack and Óscar Freire’s Rabobank, the big favourite for the sprint along with Ventoso. At the finishing straight, the fastman from Movistar Team gave no option to their rivals as the 28-year-old notched the fourth victory of the season for his team, the second on his particular count and the 24th since he turned pro in 2004.
“The sweet-and-sour taste from yesterday has become superb today. Any sprint is a different story, and I knew that the important thing was having good legs at the end. I got too soon into open air yesterday, then I had to stop and I lacked some more straight at the end. It was all the way round today. The group got a bit still with 300 meters left, but I was coming fast from behind and took a long sprint, specially if you mind that the finish was uphill. It was too hard for me at the end, but even after that I won with a good gap, and above all I could enjoy the victory. It’s been really beautiful.”
“There’s little difference between being first and second, but both things have nothing to do. I had come twice second this year while I was feeling myself as winner in both two, and I was pissed off not being able to take it to fruition, specially for my teammates. That’s why winning today is so important for me. It’s the best way to give back the confidence they had on me since the very first moment. Since I came to the team, I have felt really part of it, and that’s why every single success goes for them. People said we were lacking some big names, but we’re showing this block is impressive, and that sometimes, the strength of a group gives better results.”