As an Euskaltel fan, this stage design brings back sweet memories. In order to fully understand the joy, I feel, we have to take a trip down memory lane.
In 2006, 23-year-old climbing prodigy Igor Antón took his first ever pro victory by finishing off an attacking ride by soloing away on Calar Alto while Vinokourov and Valverde looked at each other. This happened a few days after his team leader Samuel Sánchez had done his thing in Cuenca and the British Eurosport commentator had originally mistaken him for Antón. This time there was no doubt who the winner was.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skz7vVvDUDI
The following year, he helped Sánchez to 3 stage victories and a spot on the podium while finishing 8th overall himself. Now he had proved that he deserved sole leadership in the next Vuelta. Things got off to a great start with his team taking a surprising second place on the opening TTT in Grenada. After surviving the only flat time trial in the race and following the strongest riders until the last metres in Andorra (the day where Ballan suddenly appeared out of the fog to take the win), he was the only one who managed to close the gap after Contador attacked with Valverde in his wheel on Pla de Beret.
He could therefore start the stage to the mythical Angliru with high hopes. His teammate Egoi Martinez was even leading the race after he had been part of a successful breakaway earlier on, and Antón himself had won the shallower, but still fairly steep MTF at Flumserberg in the Tour de Suisse a couple of months before.
However shortly before the end of the descent from the penultimate climb of Alto de Cordial, disaster struck. An Euskaltel rider had crashed through a corner and slid into the guard rail. It was Antón, and his collarbone was broken. If only he had worn an airbag that day, in the appropriate colour, of course. It would have made him look even more like a fruit, but it would have kept him safe.
He struggled to regain form and consistency throughout the 2009 season, but things turned around in 2010. Strong performances in both classics and stage races, topped off with helping Samuel Sánchez to the GC win in Burgos, had once again made him a legit contender for the Vuelta. Victories in Valdepeñas de Jaén and in Andorra meant he held a lead of 45 seconds over Vincenzo Nibali, 1:17 over Joaquim Rodríguez and 1:29 over Ezequiel Mosquera after 13 stages.
The next finish at Peña Cabarga looked like another great opportunity for him to strengthen his lead, but it all went terribly wrong right before the final climb yet again. A crash at high speed took out both him and Egoi Martinez. Dreams were shattered, blood was lost, tears were shed. And here I’m only referring to what transpired when I rewatched it yesterday.
Antón seemed to be on the right path in 2011, taking victories on Zoncolan in the Giro and at home in Bilbao in the Vuelta, and he also rode a fine Spanish GT the following season, but he was not able to contend a GT win or podium ever again. He hanged up his bike after the 2018 Vuelta to focus on restoring old Citroëns and other stuff.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCfKV_emYvY
After the crash in 2010, Euskaltel were in shambles. They had lost their leader and another strong rider, and that year’s Itzulia revelation, Beñat Intxausti (another “what if” guy), had not reached the same kind of level and would also go on to abandon the next day. Leadership then fell into the hands of Mikel Nieve, a fairly unknown quantity at this point, who was making his GT debut. On the first Asturian stage to Lagos de Covadonga, he managed to finish 10th from the GC group, thus moving himself up to 16th in GC. However, it was the next day where he and the team pulled off a masterpiece. Forget about the Jumbo-Visma kit from the 2022 Tour de France, it should rather be photos from this stage that should be hanging in the Louvre.
This stage featured three not too dissimilar climbs inside the last 100 km, with around 20 km of valley in-between each of them. The last one, Alto de Cotobello, had been named the Cima “Chechu” Rubiera in honour of the local hero José Luis Rubiera, who had helped make the Vuelta organisation aware of its glory. The climb had originally been intended to feature in the 2008 edition, but ended up getting replaced by Fuentes de Invierno. Rubiera retired after the 2010 season, but didn’t get to race his own climb because RadioShack didn't receive an invite to Johan Bruyneel's dismay.
A group of 10 riders broke clear after 60 km. Luis León Sánchez was the most prominent name in there, but Euskaltel’s Juan José Oroz, the current team manager of Equipo Kern, had also made the group. A decent domestique, but not exactly a guy you’d expect to finish things off. The team was well aware of that, and midway up Puerto de Lorenzo, an orange tsunami suddenly stormed past the Liquigas train at the front of the peloton.
Juanjo Oroz, 2012
Nieve and the always aggressive Amets Txurruka went in hot pursuit of the break which was riding over two minutes further up the climb. At first, this seemed like a bit of a desperate act, but the gap decreased and Oroz dropped back a while later and helped the other two gain contact with the riders in front with 59 km left, while holding off a strong chase group from ever bridging across.
Txurruka when he "won" the white jersey in the 2007 Tour de France
The gap to the peloton was never much more than 3 minutes, but the dedication, passion and tenacity kept the dream of a stage win alive, and when Fränk Schleck attacked on Alto de la Cobertoria, they still had an advantage of 2 minutes. Schleck’s attack did however cut off another 20 seconds, before Liquigas managed to reel him back in on Nibali’s behalf.
The break, which now consisted of Nieve, Txurruka, Sánchez, Kevin De Weert and Tom Pederson, saw its lead grow back to around 3 minutes, as the peloton behind recuperated ahead of Cotobello. Pettersen was the first one to struggle on the climb, but when Txurruka took his last pull with 9 km left, Nieve quickly dropped the rest as well.
Schleck attacked once again and was joined by Danielsson. Kreuziger was leading the chase, but it became apparent that Nibali wasn’t feeling too great, and Schleck’s former teammate Carlos Sastre was the next to cause cracks in the Sicilian’s defence. He caught the duo, but he was eventually dropped by Schleck, while Danielsan was waxed off, too.
Up ahead, Nieve could celebrate his first pro victory and dedicate it to his fallen teammate after a perfect display of teamwork, while Nibali continued to come under attack from Mosquera and Rodriguez, with the latter claiming the red jersey at the end of the stage. As we know, the Italian rider would go on to win the race anyway, his first of four GT victories.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BC4IC3hGzk
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