Vuelta a Espana 2013 - Stage 11
La Vuelta a Espana continued today with the race's only individual time trial. It was a tricky 38.8 kilometre test around the town of Tarazona, and, this being the Vuelta, had a third category climb in the middle of it, meaning it would be kinder on race favourite Joaquim Rodriguez, who normally loses a considerable chunk in the time trial.
The day was billed as a showdown between Fabian Cancellara and Tony Martin, two men with six world time trial championships between them, and that proved to be the case. Tony Martin went out relatively early on, resplendent in the rainbow stripes of current world time trial champion, and set the quickest time of 51 minutes 37 seconds.
Spartacus himself, a winner of the world time trial championships a whopping four times, Fabian Cancellara, came and blew the time out of the water. He finished in 51 minutes exactly, smashing Martin's time by 37 seconds. Cancellara stated after the stage that he thought the course suited a general classification contender more than him, and that he could be beaten, and would not be surprised if he was, however he expressed his desire that luck go his way and he win the stage.
Then there was the business end of the time trial. Vincenzo Nibali had been reported to be stung by a bee in the rest day, and catching a glimpse of it after the stage, it certainly did look nasty. Alejandro Valverde had some trouble on course, puncturing on his way up the climb. However, the Movistar mechanics got the wheel changed quick enough that it didn't affect the Spaniard too much.
Samuel Sanchez of Euskaltel crossed the line in a pretty good time, only two and a quarter minutes down on Fabian Cancellara's time. However, a man who surprised many by having a very good day was the diminuitive climber from AG2R La Mondiale, Domenico Pozzovivo. He finished just a minute and 24 seconds down on Cancellara.
It was not a good day for Ivan Basso (Cannondale) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) however, they lost 2 minutes 43 seconds and 3 minutes 1 second respectively, losing considerable time to the other general classification contenders.
It was a good day for the four remaining riders though. Nicolas Roche finished 1 minute 48 seconds back on Cancellara, four seconds faster than Alejandro Valverde of Movistar. Vincenzo Nibali had the best time of it, he finished 1 minute 25 seconds down on Cancellara, and when Chris Horner came in two minutes 54 seconds down, it meant Nibali was in the red jersey once again.
Horner however stated he was satisfied, saying he expected to lose that amount of time. Nibali was pleased, saying behind sunglasses to hide the sting that the time was right for him to take red.