Joaquin Rodriguez claims victory at the Vuelta a Burgos

Joaquin Rodriguez took his first general classiment win, of the year, with victory in the Vuelta a Burgos.

Rodriguez was pipped to the line, by the defending champion Samuel Sanchez, on the first stage, but fought back for overall victory of 2011. Sanchez tried to sneak victory again, on the final stage, but the 21 second lead was too much. The Katusha rider looked comfortable, as he left the Tour de France King of the Mountains, on the final climb of the tour.

After looking like he would take the time back from Rodriguez, Sanchez ended up losing 1 minute 14 seconds. Rodriguez had the legs, after missing this year’s Tour de France and claimed the overall victory, by 34 seconds, ahead of his teammate, Daniel Moreno. Sanchez started the day in fourth and remained fourth, after losing time to Juan Jose Cobo Acebo.

Rodriguez took control of the race during the second stage, by using his explosive style of riding, and leaving Moreno and Sanchez, in his wake. El Purito really made his mark on the race, during the team time-trial; the Katusha team finished second, 10 seconds down on the winners Movistar. While Euskaltel could only manage could only manage 10^th, of 15 teams, over 20 seconds down. Movistar’s performance pushed three of their riders in to the top 5, but they wouldn’t be able to hold on over the race distance.

Moreno finally got himself in to the thick of things, after he claimed victory, by a second, on the penultimate stage. Sanchez was the leader of the following group, but couldn’t shake Rodriguez and the times remained status quo. The Movistar duo David Lopez and Pablo Lastras kept hold of their podium positions, for one more stage.

Stage five really shook things up, with Moreno moving up four positions, and Cobo Acebo jumped up from 11^th. Lopez and Lastras fell down to sixth and seventh, around 2 minutes down on Rodriguez. There were a few things for Euskaltel-Euskadi to smile about, with Mikel Landa taking the final stage victory and his first career victory. His performance secured him the mountains classification, ahead of Sanchez, while Euskaltel won the team prize. Topsport Vlaanderen – Mercator’s Kenny De Ketele won the sprint classification, while Rodriguez won the points classification.