Great day for Cobo & GEOX-TMC on Angliru

COBO AND GEOX-TMC HAVE A GREAT DAY ON ANGLIRU

04 September, 2011 – Juan Josè Cobo and everyone at GEOX-TMC is celebrating on Alto de Angliru. The stage and the red jersey went to the “Bison from la Pesa” who today won this strategic stage of the Spanish race on the legendary finish line on Angliru, also capturing the red jersey for the leader in the general classification.

“I'm thrilled, this is without a doubt the most fantastic day of my career," explained Juanjo Cobo. "It wasn't a climb well suited to my skills but right from the very first kilometres I felt like my legs were spinning well and so I decided to try the attack. I didn't know if I would be able to stick it out for the entire climb, the inclines on Angliru are gruelling, but metre after metre I felt my lead increasing and I gained confidence and found new energy to make it all the way to the finish line.  For a Spanish rider to win on this climb among all these crowds is the maximum. I don't know how the Vuelta is going to end, we still have another week of racing ahead and the road to Madrid is still long. Tomorrow will be a rest day, it will be important for recuperating some energy. In the mean time I want to enjoy this victory, which was very important for me and all the team, and the joy of wearing the red jersey. Tomorrow is the rest day, it will be important to recuperate the energy exhausted in these last stages."

For Juanjo Cobo, the thirty-year-old Cantabrian from Cabezón de la Sal, this is the second stage victory in the Vuelta España after the won he obtained in 2009, and his third in a major stage race if you count the one he won at the Tour de France in 2008. After today's stage, Cobo not only wears the leader's red jersey, he also earned the white jersey for the "combined" classification.

Rounding out today's success for the GEOX-TMC colours was also the third place that went to Denis Menchov on the finish line at Angliru; this bumps the Russian up to sixth place in the general classification. It was another fantastic team test for GEOX-TMC which reaffirmed itself today as the most solid formation up to now in this Vuelta, looking down on the competition from their first place in both the individual classification and the team classification.

“Everything went to perfection again today," says a satisfied Sports Director Joxean Fernandez Matxin. "The strategy worked as expected, but then it's hard to miss when you can count on riders like these, they're all proving to be exceptional. The idea was to control the race from the start until the beginning of the kicker on Angliru to then allow Cobo to unleash all his power and try an attack in the last three and a half kilometres. Cobo is in great shape and when he told me he was feeling very good we gave him free rein to try the attack when he thought the timing was right. He did so and this is the result: a fantastic triumph, there are no words to describe the joy and satisfaction for the enterprise of our riders and the excellent work of the entire team."

"Since the beginning of the year we've known that we can count on a good team but for thousands of situations that happened until now we were never able to really show all our worth, - explains Mauro Gianetti, General Manager of GEOX-TMC. "For us the Vuelta represents an important milestone and we're taking it on in the best of ways. I'm proud of all our riders because they're riding every day with guts and determination, proving they have strength and character. The Sports Directors Joxean Fernandez Matxin and Daniele Nardello, like all the members of the team's staff, are doing a fabulous job.  The race is still long but we're going to try to go on like this, all the way."

Stage classification

1 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC 4:01:55  

2 Wout Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:48  

3 Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC    

4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling    

5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling

12 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Geox-TMC 0:01:52 

22 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Geox-TMC 0:03:52

General classification

1 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC 59:57:16  

2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:20  

3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:00:46  

4 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:01:36  

5 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek 0:02:37  

6 Denis Menchov (Rus) Geox-TMC 0:03:01 

21 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Geox-TMC 0:10:07

33 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Geox-TMC 0:36:27

Combination classification

1 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Geox-TMC 10 pts

2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 19 

3 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team

Team classification

1 Geox-TMC 179:22:05 

2 Leopard Trek 0:06:47 

3 Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:25:05