The 51st Vuelta al País Vasco concluded in Zalla today with a proved, palpable fact: Movistar Team was by far the best squad in one of the most prestigious races of the selected UCI World Tour circuit.
The telephone squad not only dominated the teams’ overal classification -winning by more than five minutes over their nearest pursuers-, but also put four of their riders –Intxausti, 4th; Tondo, 5th; David López, 7th; and Kiryienka, 10th- within the best ten in a top-class general classification commanded by German Andreas Klöden (RSH). The three leaders from the squad by Eusebio Unzué completed a notable time trial and, in the case by Intxausti and Tondo, were only a step behind the final podium. Both seemed to have a place granted on the top-3 halfway through the 24km route -harder in its opening part, descending in the run back to the line-, making Movistar Team dreaming of having a second appearance into the final podium. However, the closing kilometers ruined the hopes by the Basque and the Catalan, who still made it to the day’s pictures as the squad, which claimed the second teams’ victory in the 2011 World Tour after the one notched in the Tour Down Under, claimed the victory with López, Kiryienka, Bruesghin, Arroyo and Chente García Acosta accompanying them. Undoubtedly, the best block in the 51st Vuelta al País Vasco.
Beñat Intxausti: “It’s always sad to get so close behind the podium and not being able to repeat last year’s result, but we already counted on Klöden and Horner as the two main favourites and Gesink ultimately surprised us because he seemed to be discarded after the climb. I had better legs in the ascents than in the run to the finish, but I gave everything I had and you mustn’t think further about it. We couldn’t surprise the field but we were close, and that’s enough. The fact that we ended up so high in such an important race, with all my fans on the roads, is really remarkable for me, looking at all big rivals we had. Let’s see if we can finish off with all work during the week at home in Amorebieta tomorrow.”
Xavi Tondo: “I had very good sensations all over the time trial. It’s true that I felt stronger in the climb, with really good legs, but I was OK in the last part too. We hadn’t planned to ride faster in the first half of the race, because you just have to go flat-out from start to finish in such ITT’s. I have kept the line I followed in previous years. If nothing bad happens to me, I’m really regular and usually get into the best ten overall. The bad point was Arrate’s stage, because I felt phenomental and I couldn’t crown it with a victory by so few meters. I have performed really strong all year, but I’m still feeling fresh. Now we’ll do Castilla y León and Liège, and then some rest to get prepared for the Tour.”
David López: “I’m not a timetriallist, but I knew the route really well and had good feelings during the ride, specially on the climb. I’m happy with the result because I thought that the efforts from this week would pay off and take me out. I was really regular all Vuelta long, except for some bad moments, critical I must say, like the one I suffered in Altube. But I managed to get over it and that gave me a chance to be up-front in such a race like this. I have ridden strong since January in Australia, but I’m still hungry of racing. We’ll see how long my energy lasts.”