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Bendigo local Chris Hamilton made the most of tough condition at La Vuelta, bridging across to the breakaway after crosswind chaos on the opening part of the stage. Strong winds saw the peloton split early in the stage, and the break was only able to get away once a dangerous general classification group had been neutralised 50 kilometres into the race.
A break of six managed to go clear, and with no Team dsm-firmenich rider in the move, Hamilton launched a counter attack when the gap was at 30 seconds from the peloton. Hamilton managed to bridge to the break and would soon be joined by another; making an eight-rider move out front. Their advantage steadily grew and reached eight minutes with 80 kilometres to go, almost ensuring that the winner would come from the escapees.
However, another extended crosswind section saw the peloton split to pieces behind once more and the gap to the break was halved in less than 20 kilometres. The road changed direction and eventually, the pace eased off in the peloton.
Trying to split things from the bottom of the climb, Hamilton put in an attack and was able to draw a group of four clear but the pace remained high and Kämna soon after launched his stage-winning move. Riding at his own tempo and feeling the effects of his earlier solo efforts to bridge to the break, some bad luck with a puncture on the muddy and dirty roads saw Hamilton have to change his bike. Nevertheless, he continued to fight all the way to the finish to take a strong third place on the day.
“I was happy to make it into the break after a pretty crazy start,” said Hamilton. “The eight of us worked well together and it all came down to the final climb.
“I think I’m pretty happy with third. Obviously, the win would always be nice but I’m happy with the result. There are still another two weeks of racing to go here so we’ll try it again.”
Team dsm-firmenich coach Phil West continued: “Today’s stage was an interesting one and the peloton was at maximum stress and full tension because of the threat of crosswinds at the start. Jumbo put pressure on and forced a lot of action but in the end it came back.
“Coming into the first climb Chris picked his moment to jump, and rode in a really nice way to come into the break and close the gap. The break established a good lead but at one point it looked like it might come back when the GC teams increased the pace again but then it kind of neutralised itself behind.
“We were able to continue onto the climb and Chris could ride a good final; aggressive but without being wasteful. Unfortunately, he punctured at three and a half kilometres to go so we had to help him from the car but he fought back to take third on the finish which we can be happy with.
“I think with the way the lads rode to get into the break was good, so we’re looking forward to the rest day and hitting it again after that.”
La Vuelta has a rest day tonight, but the action will continue on SBS VICELAND with the Stage 10 time trial from 10.50pm AEST on Tuesday.
