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Great start at Vuelta with fourth in night-time TTT

August 28, 2010 - Filed under: TestTeam

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Cervélo TestTeam enjoyed a great start to the 2010 Vuelta a España with a solid fourth-place result in the 13.3km team time trial held under the lights on the streets of Sevilla.

Cervélo stopped the clock in 14 minutes, 19 seconds, just 13 seconds slower than winners HTC-Columbia. British sprinter ace Mark Cavendish took the first race leader’s jersey while Cervélo positioned team captain Carlos Sastre (ESP) in good position to start the three-week Spanish tour.

“It was an amazing performance by the team. Everyone knows the start of a grand tour is very important, even more so with a team time trial. All the team was very focused and even though they were not used to racing by night, they just did a great performance,” said Cervélo TestTeam sport director Philippe Mauduit (FRA). “We expected to be between sixth and eight, with sixth being a very good performance. To be fourth, just 13 seconds behind the winner, that is a great performance. Everyone was working well in the rotations and Thor (Hushovd) did some great pulls for the team.”

Sastre said the good result to open the 2010 Vuelta will only fuel his confidence as he begins his third three-week grand tour of the season.

“The team did very well. Everyone was motivated and focused and excited to be racing,” Sastre said. “I’m here to do as well as I can in this Vuelta. I’m feeling good, the team is strong and motivated, so we’ll see what happens in these next few weeks. I’m racing here in Spain, in front of my fans, so I am extra motivated as well. This Vuelta is not easy. Every day there is some little surprise for the racers.”

Thor Hushovd (NOR) was also pleased with how the team rode during the unique night-time city course held under the lights in Sevilla. The first team started at 22h00 and Cervélo was the second-to-last team to start at nearly 23h30.

“I was surprised at how good I felt because I haven’t raced since the Tour de France,” Hushovd said. “The team was very strong today and we were all working well together. It’s not every day that we get to race at night, so that made for an interesting race. We hope this is a good sign for the rest of the Vuelta for the team.”

Hushovd will get his first shot at a stage victory in Sunday’s 173.7km second stage from Alcalá de Guadaíra to Marbella. The route climbs nearly 1,000 vertical meters before dropping down to the Mediterranean Sea for should be a sprint finish into the posh coastal resort at Marbella.

Vuelta a España Stage 1 Results: Seville - Seville 13.0 km

1^st	HTC-Columbia	0:14.06	55.32 km/h (34.37 mph)
2^nd	Liquigas-Doimo	+0.10
3^rd	Saxo Bank	+0.12
4^th	Cervélo TestTeam	+0.13
5^th	Lampre	+0.14

21^st	Íñigo Cuesta (ESP)	+0.13
22^nd	Xavier Tondo (ESP)	s.t.
23^rd	Thor Hushovd (NOR)	s.t.
24^th	Carlos Sastre (ESP)	s.t.
25^th	Xavier Florencio (ESP)	s.t.
81^st	Stefan Denifl (AUT)	+0.27
128^th	Theo Bos (NED)	+0.38
167^th	Oscar Pujol (ESP)	+0.59
182^nd	Philip Deignan (IRL)	+1.53

General Classification after Stage 1:

1^st	Mark Cavendish (GBR)	0:14:06	55.32 km/h (34.37 mph)
2^nd	Peter Velits (SVK)	s.t.
3^rd	Martin Velits (SVK)	s.t.

22^nd	Íñigo Cuesta (ESP)	+0.13
23^rd	Xavier Tondo (ESP)	s.t.
24^th	Thor Hushovd (NOR)	s.t.
25^th	Carlos Sastre (ESP)	s.t.
26^th	Xavier Florencio (ESP)	s.t.
88^th	Stefan Denifl (AUT)	+0.27
131^st	Theo Bos (NED)	+0.38
170^th	Oscar Pujol (ESP)	+0.59
185^th	Philip Deignan (IRL)	+1.53

5 responses for this Entry

Rudi says:

August 30, 2010

Hvorfor ER Thor med norske flagg og Ikke i Cervelo -Og forfor ligger Han " Langt Tilbake i felte ? ER Det Ikke no fordel Ligge litt lengere Fremme

Pål says:

August 29, 2010

What a joke, they give out points for the points jersey also!

What a Joke!

CB says:

August 29, 2010

Cervelo did even better and finished third (not fourth) in TTT

See http://www.lavuelta.com/10/es/resultados/index.html?e=1

Bobby Chiu says:

August 29, 2010

what a great team and great performance.... People start to think why cervelo decided to dismiss this great team ... Why he gave up so quickly after 24 months....what kind of sportmanship it is ? I don't see the marriage with Garmin is to help the team and riders, but dismiss the whole team .......Instead, Cervelo should seek for more sponsor(s) to support and enhance the existing cervelo test team....

THY says:

August 29, 2010

Impressive TTT by the Team! "Thumbs up"