Italy scored a double success in the Tour of Spain’s first Pyrenean stage on Saturday as Vincenzo Nibali strengthened his overall lead and sprinter Daniele Ratto scored a rare win on the climbs.
On a day of intense cold and rain, when temperatures plummeted to a few degrees above zero on the highest climbs, Nibali attacked his main rivals on the final 7km ascent of the Collada de la Gallina.
Joined by American Chris Horner, Nibali crossed the line in second place 3 minutes, 55 seconds behind lone breakaway Ratto, with Horner third.
Photo: AFP
Overall Nibali now leads by 50 seconds on Horner, with Spain’s Alejandro Valverde remaining third, despite losing time and dropping to 1 minute, 42 seconds back on Nibali.
“I haven’t won yet, but this is an important step forward,” Nibali, the winner of the Giro d’Italia this spring, told reporters afterward. “It was a very hard day, a lot of riders suffered badly on the descents because it was so cold. Horner is very strong and I’ll have to watch him, but we’re weeding out the rivals and we’ve done a lot of damage overall.”
Horner’s teammate, Croatian Robert Kiserlovski, upped the pace dramatically in the front group of favorites on the final climb, preparing the ground for the American to attack.
However, Nibali was able to stay with the American and even drop him close to the finish to snatch a few more seconds’ advantage.
“I had no reason to attack Horner, we had gained time on our Spanish rivals,” Nibali said, before sending a message of support to double Giro d’Italia winner Ivan Basso of Italy, who abandoned because of hypothermia on the stage.
Valverde lost nearly 50 seconds after he was dropped on the descent of the Ordino, the second climb of four, and nearly fainted because of the cold.
“It was inhuman, the hardest day I’ve ever had on the bike,” Valverde said. “If this goes on, there will only be 50 riders in the race.”
Stage winner Ratto attacked his fellow breakaways 60km from the finish to claim his first Grand Tour victory at 23.
“It’s very strange to win here, I’m a sprinter, not a climber, but I’m lucky, I live in the mountains, so cold, rainy days like these suit me fine,” Ratto told reporters afterward.
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