Czech former cyclo-cross super star Zdenek Stybar, 27, claimed the first stage win of his second career as a road rider in a Grand Tour. He outsprinted world champion Philippe Gilbert of BMC on the finishing line of stage 7 at Mairena del Aljarafe. The day after Tony Martin’s cruel loss in Caceres, it was another thrilling finale ending with one more disappointment for Sprinters.

Zdenek Stybar

 

After an unfruitful breakaway attempt by Laurent Mangel (FDJ.fr), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Belisol), Jan Barta (NetApp-Endura), Martin Kohler (BMC) and Antonio Piedra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) who was hoping to shine in his hometown of Sevilla, Marco Pinotti (BMC) didn’t miss the opportunity to go up the road and therefore gear up for the world championship time trial. The Italian veteran escaped with Christian Knees (Team Sky) and Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). The leading trio got an advantage of 7 minutes after 50km of racing.

As the peloton of the Vuelta reached Andalucia (km 88), Lampre-Merida, Argos-Shimano, Garmin-Sharp, Orica-Greenedge and Omega Pharma-Quick Step combined forces at the command of the peloton. The time difference kept going down. With 16km to go, Pinotti was the last man caught.

11km before the end, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Pyrenean Tour de France stage winner Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) badly crashed and couldn’t make it back to the bunch. Three kilometers further, Gilbert rode away with Stybar. Their action disrupted the peloton who was timed with a deficit of 12 seconds under the flamme rouge. That was enough for the courageous duo to stay ahead of the sprinters, the first of them being Robert Wagner (Belkin) this time around.

Stage 8 will be another story with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) eyeing the 14.5km long Alto de Penas Blancas for the defense of the red jersey at the end of a 166.6km race from Jerez de la Frontera to Estepona.

Ergebnisse. Etappe 7

Almendralejo – Mairena del Aljarafe 205,9 kms. 30/08/2013 18:10:02

1º 167 STYBAR, Zdenek CZE OPQ 4:51:27 10″

2º 51 GILBERT, Philippe BEL BMC m.t. 6″

3º 49 WAGNER, Robert GER BEL a 1 4″

4º 86 PETIT, Adrien FRA COF a 1

5º 214 FLECHA, Juan Antonio ESP VCD a 1

6º 163 FENN, Andrew GBR OPQ a 1

7º 192 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald NOR SKY a 1

8º 59 WYSS, Danilo SUI BMC a 1

9º 55 LODEWYCK, Klaas BEL BMC a 1

10º 25 JANSE VAN RENSBURG, RSA ARG a 1

11º 108 SOUPE, Geoffrey FRA FDJ a 1

12º 144 HENDERSON, Gregory NZL LTB a 1

13º 28 SINKELDAM, Ramon NED ARG a 1

14º 178 MATTHEWS, Michael AUS OGE a 1

15º 203 MORKOV, Michael DEN TST a 1

16º 155 DEMPSTER, Zakkari AUS TNE a 1

17º 212 BOLE, Grega SLO VCD a 1

18º 191 HENAO, Sergio Luis COL SKY a 1

19º 187 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR RLT a 1

20º 17 MONDORY, Lloyd FRA ALM a 1

Zdenek Stybar und Philippe Gilbert