Wayward barrier affects Kiwi hopes in Spain

Feb 23rd, 10. Missing barriers and barriers in the path of the peloton at the Vuelta a Andalucia today thwarted Greg Henderson's chance for his first sprint battle against Mark Cavendish.

Henderson on yesterday's hilly, cold and wet stage ©Graham Watson

Today's Stage 2 of the Spanish Vuelta a Andalucia was to have been the first chance for Henderson and Team Sky to compare their train to that of Cavendish's HTC Columbia train, which includes Hayden Roulston.

However, strong wind and its impact on safety barriers disrupted the sprint finale.

Henderson was less than impressed with the call the organisers made to remove the safety barriers which were marking out the islands on the road.  As he was winding up his sprint with 1km to go, Henderson rode straight into an unmarked island.

"I was 5th wheel on Friere. Boom - islands. Hands off handlebars. Chain off the inside. Back to about 20th. I sprinted with Gerro [Simon Gerrans] up to maybe 11th-12th. Then tried to go again," a clearly disappointed Henderson told RoadCycling.co.nz.

"You can't sprint 3 times in 1km. Missed opportunity."

At least Henderson managed to avoid crashing, others weren't so lucky when a barrier was blown into the path of the peloton further up the road.

"That was one of the worst crashes of my career," Geerdmann said.  "Fortunately I wasn't hurt. I had held myself out of the sprint on purpose, in order not to crash. Why all of a sudden a barrier lay in the road, I can't explain. At any rate, I turned a summersault over it and landed on it on my back. Apart from a few bruises and a shock, I am fine."

Rabobank's Laurens Ten Dam and Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) on the other hand were sent to hospital while Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese Vini) finished the stage but later went to hospital for x-rays due to pain and swelling in his right arm. According to his team he won't be starting tomorrow's stage.

Wagner celebrates too early as Freire wins the stage ©Graham Watson

The track champion's long sprint was only matched by Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Robert Wagner (Skil Shimano) who both managed to pass him.

Wagner thought he was the victor and raised his arms in triumph only to be passed on the line by three time World Champion Freire. Rasmussen was 3rd with Cavendish 4th. Henderson pulled himself up to 7th.

The HTC Columbia and Team Sky sprinters will have to wait for another day to compare their line-ups as tomorrow's 3rd stage is more suited to the climbers among the peloton.

Yesterday's opening battle was won by a relatively unknown Spanish climber Sergio Pardilla (Carmiooro NGC) who broke free with 2.5km to go up the final climb with its 16-20% gradient. Pardilla keeps the yellow jersey after today's stage.