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Race report: Talansky rides to 16th in windy TT; Martin enjoys KOM jersey

August 30, 2011 - Filed under: Team Garmin-Barracuda

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Andrew Talansky rode to an impressive 16th in Monday’s long, windy 47km individual time trial at the Vuelta a España.

Talansky, riding in his first Grand Tour, confirmed that he’s a rider to watch for the future with a solid performance in the longest time trial he’s ever raced in his career.

“The longest TT I’ve done this year at Basque or Romandie, 30 minutes. This is a different kind of effort. Oh, it’s a deep one,” Talansky said.

“I just died over that last 17km. It was downhill, it favors big power guys like Phinney, Cancellara, Martin, Grabsch, the weight does help when it comes to that. With time, I will get that longer TT in me.”

Talansky wanted to make a test in the longer-distanced time trial as continues his development as a racer. Earlier this season, he posted encouraging top-10s in time trials at Paris-Nice, Critérium International, the Basque Country tour and the Tour de Romandie.

“I took it a little easier on the climb (at Covatilla). I got permission to sit up so I could give it a go today,” Talansky said.

“Now that this is out of the way, it’s all for Dan (Martin). I think I will be in the front group in some of the climbs this next week.I was up there at Sierra Nevada. The longer climbs are better for me.”

Martin, hot off his stage victory at La Covatilla on Sunday, stopped the clock in 98th at 6:05 off the winning pace. Martin slipped back to 24th overall, at 4:58 behind new leader Chris Froome.

“It’s not Martin’s speciality and perhaps he didn’t have his best day, but we’re still very content with the stage victory (Sunday) and we’re going to keep fighting in the GC,” said Garmin-Cervélo sport director Bingen Fernández.

“This Vuelta has been hard and the hardest part is still to come. We’ll see how Dan is feeling in the mountains. You can see, when he’s good, he’s right with the best. The real mountains of this Vuelta haven’t even started. So the idea is to fight all the way to Madrid.”

Martin retained his climber’s jersey and will carry it into Wednesday’s 11th stage.

Monday’s time trial was not easy on anyone, even riders who were not particularly fighting for the GC or for the stage victory.

Paris-Roubaix champion Johan Van Summeren said the course was one of the hardest he’s raced in the past few grand tours.

“It was a very hard race today. It’s not easy at all. You really have push a big gear. It’s not funny to ride a time trial slowly. You have to go hard,” Van Summeren said. “If you go too easy, it only makes the suffering last longer. It’s better to have a good pace and ride it like that.”

Martin’s stage victory and strong GC position gives the team motivation going into the Vuelta’s second half.

“It was huge, especially after losing Tyler and Murilo to crashes. It was really what we needed to get back on the right foot. To lose two great guys, it’s a downer to lose them,” Talansky said of Martin’s win Sunday. “It’s the biggest win in Dan’s career. It’s pretty special. I think he’s starting to show people the truth. He’s one of the best climbers in the world.”

The peloton enjoys the first of two rest days Tuesday, but only after a long, four-hour bus ride from Salamanca to Galicia on Monday evening.

The 66th Vuelta resumes Wednesday with another hard mountain stage.