Horner Wins Overall Title at Vuelta al Pais Vasco
4/10/10 - Three Team RadioShack victories in one week; veteran Chris Horner is responsible for two of them. Horner (38) won the last stage, a 22 kilometer time trial, as well as the overall title in the Tour of the Basque Country (ProTour). After having won 16 professional stage races in America and Asia during his career, Chris Horner won his first European stage race by taking the final victory in the challenging Vuelta a País Vasco (April, 5th-10th).
“Last year I just missed the victory in the Tour de l’Ain, because of respiratory problems. Earlier I was close too in the the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse. Now finally I am on the highest place of the podium. Seventeen stage race wins is not bad, but I think this is the nicest one," commented a delighted winner.
“I had good legs today, but honestly, the whole week I had good legs. Yesterday I saved some forces because I wanted to be super today in the time trial. Already from day one in this race I was confident about this time trial.”
Horner won the Overall Title at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.
photo Graham Watson
Rolling down the start ramp in Orio on Saturday Horner needed one second to catch race leader Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne). Looking steady and calm on the bike, Horner displayed laser-like focus throughout his ride and steadily gained on his Spanish rival. He stopped the clock at 32:33 for first place with only Valverde still to arrive. But Valverde struggled on the bike and lost eight seconds to Horner, dropping to second place on the general classification.
Driving the car behind Horner was Team Director Viatcheslav Ekimov, who was barely able to contain his joy at the end of the stage. “Chris is the man!” exclaimed Eki. “When I saw Chris warming up this morning I saw what concentration he had and I thought to myself, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be good, he means business!’ He made no mistakes, showed perfect bike handling skills and was a real power house. The TT bike worked super.” Asked about his emotions behind the wheel, Eki continued with, “I couldn’t stop talking on the radio. I was yelling his split times, giving him Valverde’s times and in general just yelling ‘Go! Go! Go!’”
Team Manager Johan Bruyneel (winner of the time trial in the Tour of the Basque Country in 1991) shared the enthusiasm for the win: “I am very happy for the Team, but especially for Chris. He deserves this after all his bad luck last year. This is a big victory. After the Tour, Giro and Vuelta are Dauphiné, Switzerland and Basque Country as the hardest races to win. Chris gets better with the years.”
After last year’s continuous bad luck with various crashes and injuries, Horner came storming back into the season with excellent form. Before heading to the Tour of California, Horner will participate in the Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. “With the same ambition to win," continued Horner. “I crashed very bad in Liège last year in the Tour of Spain, but that had nothing to do with ‘the’ Liège-classic. If you are not motivated for Liège-Bastogne-Liège, it’s time to retire. My moment hasn’t come yet."
Result Stage 6: individual time trial Orio-Orio, 22 K
1. Chris Horner (Team Radioshack) 32:33:00; 2. Alejandro Valverde 00:08; 3. Maxime Monfort 00:13; 4. Michael Rogers 00:18; 5. Beñat Intxausti 00:21; 6. Samuel Sánchez 00:23; 7. Marco Pinotti 00:25; 8. Joaquín Rodriguez 00:33; 9. Jean-Christophe Péraud; 10. Andreas Klöden (Team RadioShack) 00:34
Final General Classification
1. Chris Horner (Team Radioshack) 23:27:30; 2. Alejandro Valverde 00:07; 3. Beñat Intxausti 00:58; 4. Joaquín Rodriguez 01:06; 5. Jean-Christophe Peraud 01:10; 6. Marco Pinotti 01:18; 7. Sandy Casar 01:47; 8. Samuel Sánchez 01:58; 9. Robert Gesink 01:59; 10. Dries Devenyns 02:27
