WILL ROUTLEY 3rd AFTER STAGE-LONG BREAKAWAY
SpiderTech rider hangs on ahead of charging peloton
(Feb. 20, 2012) — Sometimes a long breakaway does succeed.
Will Routley of Team SpiderTech p/b C10 finished third in the first stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia Monday after spending close to 200 km up the road in a break that barely hung on to the finish.
Routley was part of a four-rider group that took off in the first kilometre of the 197-km stage from Zahara de los Atunes to Benalmà dena, with little reaction from the peloton. Routley was joined by Javier Ramirez (Andalucia), Daniel Dominguez (Team NSP-Ghost) and Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis).
Riding on beautiful roads on an 18C, windless day, the quartet’s lead reached more than 11 minutes after 50 km before the the Project 1T4i teammates of race leader Patrick Gretsch started to pick up the pace in the main field.
The breakaway’s lead slowly dropped to 6 minutes, but 1T4i wasn’t getting any help so they stopped chasing with about 90 km to go, and the lead ballooned up to 11 minutes again.
The chase resumed once Saur-Sojasun and RadioShack-Nissan joined 1T4i on the front, but the gap was still two minutes with 15 km to go and the breakaway just hung on to the finish: Ramirez scored a popular local victory in front of the enthusiastic crowds, with Angel Mate in second and Routley three seconds back, credited with the same time as the winner of the bunch sprint, three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Katusha). Dominguez was swept up by the peloton just before the finish.
“With 2 km to go we were playing around and I felt we’d get caught,” said Routley after the finish. “I attacked, it was risky but Mate was sprinting stronger than me — I noticed when we were going for KOMs. I thought it was my best shot at the stage and I think if I hadn’t created that acceleration we’d have been caught by the main field for sure.”
“It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes the early break actually makes it,” said team director Kevin Field. “That’s exactly what happened today.”
Because of the small time gaps, the stage had little effect on the overall standings. Routley will wear the Metas Volantes (intermediate sprint) jersey for Tuesday’s second stage because the classification leader, Mate, will be wearing the mountains jersey.
RACE PROFILE
RESULTS – PROLOGUE
1. RAMIREZ, Javier (ESP) (Andalucia) 5:02:10
2. MATE, Luis Angel (ESP) (Cofidis) s.t.
3. ROUTLEY, Will (CAN) (SpiderTech p/b C10) +0:03
4. FREIRE, Oscar (ESP) (Katusha) s.t.
5. LOBATO, Juan J (ESP) (Andalucia) s.t.
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37. FAIRLY, Caleb (USA) (Team SpiderTech p/b C10) s.t.
40. ROTH, Ryan (CAN) (Team SpiderTech p/b C10) s.t.
57. ANDERSON, Ryan (CAN) (Team SpiderTech p/b C10) s.t.
61. EUSER, Lucas (USA) (Team SpiderTech p/b C10) s.t.
66. DE LUNA, Flavio (MEX) (Team SpiderTech p/b C10) s.t.
76. KUNZLI, Raymond (SUI) (Team SpiderTech p/b C10) s.t.
TEAM SPIDERTECH RIDERS
THE STAGES
THE TEAMS
UCI World Tour Teams: Radio Shack-Nissan (USA); Lotto Belisol Team (BEL); Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Team (NED); Movistar Team (ESP); BMC Racing Team (USA); Katusha (RUS); Rabobank (NED); Euskaltel-Euskadi (SPA)
UCI Pro-continental/continental: SpiderTech powered by C10 (CAN); Team EuropCar (FRA); Team NetAPP (GER); Saur-Sojasun (FRA); Accent Jobs-Willems Veranda’s (BEL); Project IT41 (FRA);; Caja Rural (SPA); Andalucia (SPA); Cofidis (FRA); Team NSP (GER)
ABOUT Team SpiderTech powered by C10
Team SpiderTech powered by C10 is Canada’s first and only Continental Professional Cycling Team. The team is led by Steve Bauer an Olympic and World Championship medalist. The 17-rider cycling team is composed of 11 Canadians, six international riders and is sponsored by SpiderTech Inc. and a consortium of Canadian corporations known as C10 including BlackBerry, NRS Brakes, Pinetree Capital and Argon 18. (www.cyclesportmanagement.com)
ABOUT SpiderTech
SpiderTech is the Canadian developer and world leader of pre-cut and ready to apply kinesiology taping solutions. SpiderTech is committed to excellence and innovation in the management of pain and myofascial dysfunction through the use of specialized elastic tape applications. SpiderTech’s focus is on the development and manufacturing of products and therapy protocols that meet the demands of today’s health care clinician and therapist. www.spidertech.com
