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Philippe Gilbert of BMC Racing has turned in a stunning sprint finish to win Stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana and claim his first win as the reigning World Champion.
Since winning the World Championship last year, Gilbert has struggled to perform at the levels were accustomed to, with many fearing the curse of the rainbow jersey had struck again. In fact, Gilbert was on track to record his first winless season since turning pro in 2003.
All that changed when the Vuelta raced into the seaside town of Tarragona after 164 kilometres of racing.
With Orica-GreenEdge spent after doing so much work at the head of the peloton chasing down the early break and a 500 metre uphill sprint to the finish, the race suited a stronger rider and Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen took his chances and launched an attack with 300 metres to go.
It looked like the man affectionately known as Eddy Boss had timed it to perfection as he opened up a handy little gap, but with 75 metres to go Gilbert knew he had the legs to chase him down and he leapt out from the peloton in pursuit of Boasson Hagen.
Gilbert’s calculations were spot on and 348 days after he won the World Championship in the Netherlands, the curse of the rainbow jersey was smashed and Gilbert was able to raise his hands in victory as he crossed the line.
The victory from the popular Belgian lit up what had been a rather mundane stage to that point.
Any early breakaway from Romain Zingle of Cofidis, Cedric Pineau of FDJ and Fabricio Ferrari of Caja Rural-Seguros lasted until 20 kilometres to go, and with just one categorised climb and both intermediate sprints coming in the last 25 kilometres, it was a stage that needed something a bit special at the end to bring it alive.
Gilbert made sure that the spectators left happy.
There was no movement in the General Classification positions, though Ivan Basso was able to win the second intermediate sprint and earn himself a 3 second time bonus, while Nicolas Roche was 2nd and earnt a 2 second time bonus. Vincenzo Nibali of Astana is still the overall leader and now holds a 33 second advantage over Roche, with Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde sitting third, 46 seconds behind Nibali.
Tomorrow’s stage offers another chance for the stronger, Classics-type riders to succeed with two categorised climbs, the last of which is the Category 1 climb up the Alto del Rat Penat with just 50 kilometres to go. With the monkey now off his back, can Philippe Gilbert make it two wins in two days. You certainly wouldn’t bet against him now the curse is broken.
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