Teammate Nibali Still In Striking Distance
Liquigas-Cannondale's young sensation Peter Sagan today won his second stage at the Vuelta a España, this time by putting pure sprinters in his wake at the finish in Pontevedra. The emphatic win is Sagan's eleventh and the team's twenty-fifth of the season.
"Today's win in a finish for pure sprinters has a special taste," confirmed Sagan. "I was able to put champions of the caliber of Degenkolb, Bennati, Petacchi and Boonen behind me and this for me is really satisfying. At the start of the Vuelta, I had hoped to win at least a stage... to have won two already is really inspiring. But today’s wasn’t easy because the sprinters’ teams were well organized and it was tough to find space. In the finale, I tried to stay on the fastest wheels, trying to not lose my good position because we were going really fast. To regain a spot would have been really difficult. When I saw the finish line I thought that the best strategy was to jump early. I took off, only thinking about pushing and not letting up even for an instant. Now I want to enjoy the moment, then start thinking about our first objective at this Vuelta: To get through the mountains unscathed and arrive until Madrid."
Teammate and defending champion Vincenzo Nibali recovered precious seconds in yesterday’s stage and lies in fourth, just ten seconds from overall leader Bradley Wiggins. Nibali lost four seconds in today’s fast finish, which created a small gap in the burst to the line. He dropped from third overall, and now lies sandwiched between two former Cannondale-Vredestein mountain bike racers, Fredrik Kessiakoff and Jakob Fuglsang, who like Sagan, have made an impressive transition from mountain bike racing.
