Astana Cycling Team

Stage 3, March 24: La Vall d'en Bas (Sant Esteve d'en Bas) - Las Seu d'Urgell, 185.9 km

Xavier Tondo wins Stage 3

• Cervelo’s Xavier Tondo cooking with early season form
• He follows up great show at Paris-Nice with Stage 3 win in Catalunya today

Roses are blooming anew for our man Óscar Pereiro, and he showed that vitality today by launching an attack at 141 km with Xavier Tondo (Cervelo) and Joachim Rodríguez (Katusha). Bad luck that Óscar seized with cramp, but Tondo and Rodríguez made the effort stick—in spite of the encroaching stomp of Luis León Sánchez.
Tondo won the stage by a hair’s breadth over Rodríguez, with Luisle at 48 seconds. Joachim Rodríguez is now the new overall leader of the Volta a Catalunya 2010.
Three hot stars on the rampage, three threats, three troublemakers for Astana at Paris-Nice – what a shame Alberto Contador is not here to gamble with these guys!
The hors categorie Pedraforca and three second-category climbs marked the first day of serious climbing at La Volta 2010. A number of breakaways tried but ultimately failed, including a really nice go by Astana’s Gorazd Stangelj in an escape group of 13 that lasted for more than 60 kilometers.
Aspiring teams in the pack took control at various times: RadioShack drove hard to pull back the Stangelj group which also contained their rider Impey. Katusha, Liquigas and Euskaltel also did their share.
Three Astana riders finished in the top 20 today: Tiralongo, Jufré and Pereiro, and all three remain in competitive positions with margins of 1:44 or less from the leader.

Points of interest:

• Biciciclismo considered Stage 3, on paper, a day for escapes that wouldn’t win win the Volta, but might lose it.
• Tondo showed ambition early by getting into a 21-man group at 13 kilometers, with a number of strong riders like Garate and Siutsou.
• More GC ambitions were revealed by the order of passage over the final climb: 1) Tondo 2) Rodríguez 3) Frank Schleck, 4) Kreuziger
• Margins in the GC were razor-thin at the start today.
• Jonathan Castroviejo (Euskaltel) remains leader of the sprint classification.
• David Gutiérrez (Footon-Servetto) is the new KOM.
• Some favorites who lost time today: Leipheimer (now at 2:00), Klöden (2:20), Voss (2:18), Menchov (4:43)

Results:

Stage 3 – Top 10

1. 197 TONDO, Xavier ESP CERVELO TEST TEAM 4:43:23
2. 146 RODRIGUEZ, Joaquin ESP TEAM KATUSHA, s.t.
3. 28 SANCHEZ, Luis Leon ESP CAISSE D`EPARGNE, 0:48
4. 51 CASAR, Sandy FRA FRANCAISE DES JEUX, 1:20
5. 64 KREDER, Michel NED GARMIN – TRANSITIONS, 1:20
6. 7 ROCHE, Nicolas IRL AG2R-LA MONDIALE, 1:20
7. 118 WEENING, Pieter NED RABOBANK, 1:20
8. 47 PEREZ, Aitor ESP FOOTON-SERVETTO, 1:20
9. 18 TIRALONGO, Paolo ITA ASTANA, 1:20
10. 208 TAARAMAE, Rein EST COFIDIS, 1:20

GC after Stage 5 – Top 10

1. 146 RODRIGUEZ, Joaquin ESP TEAM KATUSHA 09:04:12
2. 197 TONDO, Xavier ESP CERVELO TEST TEAM, 0:10
3. 28 SANCHEZ, Luis Leon ESP CAISSE D`EPARGNE, 0:48
4. 7 ROCHE, Nicolas IRL AG2R-LA MONDIALE, 1:20
5. 85 KOREN, Kristijan SLO LIQUIGAS-DOIMO, 1:20
6. 63 HESJEDAL, Ryder CAN GARMIN – TRANSITIONS, 1:20
7. 208 TAARAMAE, Rein EST COFIDIS, 1:20
8. 86 KREUZIGER, Roman CZE LIQUIGAS-DOIMO, 1:22
9. 64 KREDER, Michel NED GARMIN – TRANSITIONS, 1:24
10. 162 BRAJKOVIC, Janez SLO TEAM RADIOSHACK, 1:25

Stage 3 – Astana riders

9. 18 TIRALONGO, Paolo ITA ASTANA, 01:20

13. 11 PEREIRO, Oscar ESP ASTANA, 01:20

20. 12 JUFRE, Josep ESP ASTANA, 1:20

74. 16 STANGELJ, Gorazd SLO ASTANA, 14:16

81. 17 RENEV, Sergey KAZ ASTANA, 15:53

100. 15 HERNANDEZ, Jesus ESP ASTANA, 19:56

103. 14 DYACHENKO, Alexsandr KAZ ASTANA, 19:56

112. 13 ZEITS, Andrey KAZ ASTANA, 25:09

GC after Stage 3 – Astana riders

12. 12 JUFRE, Josep ESP ASTANA, 01:27

16. 18 TIRALONGO, Paolo ITA ASTANA, 01:30

22. 11 PEREIRO, Oscar ESP ASTANA, 01:44

76. 16 STANGELJ, Gorazd SLO ASTANA, 14:49

83. 17 RENEV, Sergey KAZ ASTANA, 16:12

103. 14 DYACHENKO, Alexsandr KAZ ASTANA, 20:13

108. 15 HERNANDEZ, Jesus ESP ASTANA, 20:29

123. 13 ZEITS, Andrey KAZ ASTANA, 25:36