Quick Step’s Carlos Barredo takes the San Sebastian Classic

August 3rd, 2009 by Al Fresco View Comments

The Quick Step team used “by the book” tactics on Saturday to deliver Carlos Barredo to the finish, where he was able to outsprint Liquigas’ Roman Kreuziger for the win at a wet San Sebastian Classic.

Barredo had a crash descending the Jaizkibel because of the wet road, but was able to attack on the Paso por Arkale climb, about 16 km from the finish line. Barredo worked together with Fedrigo to attack race leader Petrov. On the descent, with about 13 km to go, Barredo took off alone but Luis Leon Sanchez managed to catch up to him. Kreuziger, Fedrigo and Kirchen attacked a while later and managed to join Barredo. As the three riders came to the finish, Kreuziger poured on the gas with Barredo right on his wheel, up to the sprint, where the strongest athlete prevailed.

“Sports-wise this is the best day of my life,” said an enthusiastic Barredo. “In the Tour de France I tried attacking thousands of times without luck and the last days in France I also had to deal with the onset of bronchitis. But mentally I stayed focused. I trained constantly and today I can enjoy the results. There were a lot of adversaries today, but I knew I could be up there with the best. So I tried to ride my race without worrying about the competition too much. Too many times in the past I lost the moment because I was waiting for my adversaries.”

“This victory is dedicated to the team,” continued Barredo “who worked really well today and who really needed an important win like this one after a not easy Tour de France. Now I’m looking forward to a period of rest before turning my attention to the Vuelta Espana and the end of the season. I’d like for this performance to not be a one shot deal, but just the beginning of a series of good performances.”

“The team did a great job,” explained sports director Davide Bramati. “We were very careful and united in the first group positions, we really wanted this result. With 6 athletes in the first group, besides Carlos’ brilliant race, we’ve had a great team performance as well.”

Results:
1. Carlos Barredo (Spa/Quick.Step), 237 km in 5’37″
2. Roman Kreuziger (Czk)
3. Mickaël Delage (Fra) at 0:07
4. Peter Velits (Slk)
5. Ryder Hesjedal (Can)
6. Filippo Pozzato (Ita)
7. Christophe Riblon (Fra)
8. Serguei Ivanov (Rus)
9. Francisco Perez (Spa)
10. Marco Pinotti (Ita)
11. Johan Vansummeren (Bel)
12. Sébastian Langeveld (Ned)
13. Christophe Le Mével (Fra)
14. Dries Devenyns (Bel)
15. Janez Brajkovic (Sln)