Vuelta a Espana - Henderson stuns the favourites

Eurosport - Tue, 01 Sep 07:09:00 2009

Columbia's Greg Henderson took a surprise victory in stage three of the Vuelta a Espana in Venlo in a bunch sprint.

CYCLING 2009 Greg Henderson - 0

The 32-year-old New Zealander moved out from the wheel of Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) in the final 150 metres to record his first stage win in a grand tour, while the expected challenge from the likes of Tom Boonen and Tyler Farrar once again failed to materialise.

The result catapults Henderson to second place on the general classification, six seconds behind gold-jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank).

Former Dutch champion Lars Boom (Rabobank), formed a three-man breakaway along with Andalucia-Cajasur's Jesus Rosendo and Vacansoleil's Johnny Hoogerland as early as the second kilometre, and though they quickly built up a lead that grew to almost 10 minutes over the pack, the Saxo Bank team of race leader Cancellara increased the pace to ensure they remained within striking distance.

The Milram, Quick Step and Garmin teams began to whittle the gap down as the peloton made a brief detour across the German border, and despite a valiant attempt from Rosendo to stay clear, the peloton had completed their chase with 14km to go.

The pace gradually kicked up inside the final 10 kilometres as the sprinters' teams jostled for position at the head of the pack, with nobody able to establish supremecy.

The expected surge from Columbia inside the final three kilometres never came, and in the final kilometre it was the unfancied Vacansoleil team who sprung a surprise, picking the perfect line through a tight couple of turns to bring Bozic to the front.

The Slovenian launched his sprint from a long way out, but ran out of steam as the line approached, allowing Henderson to power past.

Three-times world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank) was third, with Henderson's team-mate Andre Greipel fourth.

Tuesday's 225km fourth stage from Venlo to Liege is the final one in Holland and Belgium before the race returns to Spain.

Michael FitzGerald / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 12 of 12

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  1. Well said Pedro. And what's wrong with riding for­ Vino on this one? If AC has to ride for Asstana­ (that's what I will be calling them from now on)­ and he expects Vino to support him in the Tour next­ year, no better way to gather some UOMe's, no?

    From Suman, on Tue 1 Sep 5:49PM

  2. Seems Contador can't be bothered riding his home­ Grand Tour, which is pretty poor. As a Spanish rider­ (and the best GT rider in the world to boot) he should­ give the race his much-needed support. It's­ clearly suffering in terms of popularity and runs a­ distant third to the Tour and Giro and Contador's­ participation would've raised the profile­ significantly. Who would be team leader though - AC or­ Vino???!!!

    From pedro118118, on Tue 1 Sep 12:10PM

  3. The field IS a bit weak, isn't it? I'm pretty­ new to following cycling, but when Eurosport advertised­ the Vuelta, they mentioned Cavendish, Armstrong,­ Wiggins and Contador (in the little banner adverts on­ the TDF, Poland and Ireland coverage). Pretty­ disappointing to find that NONE of the above are in the­ mix...

    From paul.nettle, on Tue 1 Sep 11:05AM

  4. There are some very good riders for the overall­ (Sanchez, Evans, Schlecks, Valverde etc) and some very­ good young riders (Kreuziger, Gessink et al), but the­ quality of sprinters in world cycling seems pretty poor­ at the moment. Cav is right up there, but he's­ miles faster than anyone else and all the others­ (Farrar, Bennati) are average, with others now beng­ over the hill (Pettachi, Freire). I wouldn't even­ have Boonen as a sprinter anymore, he's a­ roleur/strong man with a fast(ish) finish.

    From pedro118118, on Tue 1 Sep 10:10AM

  5. could somebody tell me , is this Colombia's B team­ ... Henderson , etc.

    From callum, on Tue 1 Sep 10:00AM

  6. well, i guess we can say that Greipel isn't­ materializing as the threat people thought he'd­ be.... and Boonen? maybe coke *was* performance­ enhancing :) that guy is no longer a­ sprinter...weird.....

    From the FISH, on Tue 1 Sep 1:51AM

  7. istoleyour bicycle do u want to get near to ian cambell­ or do u mean hear hear. lol

    From ralph, on Tue 1 Sep 1:19AM

  8. iancampbell11...here here

    From istoleyourbicycle, on Tue 1 Sep 12:42AM

  9. His team should be reported to the monopolies­ commision.

    From iancampbell11, on Mon 31 Aug 11:32PM

  10. palmares is basically his CV in the cycling world

    From davidcarter20, on Mon 31 Aug 7:51PM

  11. Palmares?

    From someblokefromthepub, on Mon 31 Aug 6:10PM

  12. This does not say much for the field at the Vuelta.­ Nice win for his palmares though.

    From istoleyourbicycle, on Mon 31 Aug 5:30PM
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