VUELTA STAGE 5: RABOBANK TRAIN PULLS PELOTON TO SPAIN

Oscar Freire in 6th place in GC

Over the final kilometers of Stage 5 in the 2009 Vuelta a Espana, the men of Rabobank took control of the peloton in an effort to deliver their sprinter, Oscar Freire, to a stage victory in Vinaros, Spain. It’s the first day the race has rolled on Spanish soil; the first four stages took place in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The Rabo riders used the advantages of their Giant TCR Advanced SL bicycles, like the massive MegaDrive downtube and the ultra-stiff PowerCore bottom bracket/chainstay area, to rocket the peloton at speeds exceeding 60 km/h toward the stage finish.

Freire, however, found himself boxed-in over the final 75 meters of the race, and the Spaniard had to settle for 7th place in the sprint finish behind Andre Greipel of the Columbia HTC team.

In the General Classification, Freire now sits in 6th place. He is 33 seconds behind GC leader Greipel, who’s taken the Gold jersey from Swiss racer Fabian Cancellara.

In the Vuelta’s King of the Mountain competition, Rabobank’s Lars Boom is in second place.

Unlike the drenched conditions that were Stage 4 two days earlier in Liege, Belgium—where numerous riders went down on slick roads—Stage 5 took place under clear blue skies and hot temperatures during the 174km between Tarragona and Vinaros in Spain. Two riders, neither from Rabobank, were forced to abandon the race after suffering broken bones in a colossal crash near the end of Tuesday’s Stage 4.