With victory in today's stage in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Daryl Impey made it back-to-back wins for his Orica-GreenEdge team in this year's race and back-to-back wins for himself in the finish in Vitoria. Delivered perfectly to the line by teammates Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews, he was impressed to see the team sacrifice the yellow jersey for his own stage win opportunity.

Simon Gerrans' victory in the opening stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco was the result of a well-planned pre-race tactics in which the whole Orica-GreenEdge team gathered around their leader for the stage. Today the team made the same type of commitment to a single rider, and Daryl Impey made sure to repay the team's confidence with another victory.

The South African had won last year's stage to Vitoria when he created a gap in a wet and treacherous final as he tried to lead out Allan Davis. This time his victory was a result of a concerted team effort to support the South African time trial champion, and he was let out formidably by race leader Gerrans and Michael Matthews.

“It’s a fantastic win,” Impey said “It was a bit like last year, really. The whole team was involved with the result. Christian (Meier, ed.) and (Michael, ed.) Albasini did all of the early work. Wes (Wesley Sulzberger, ed.), Clarkey (Simon Clarke, ed.) and Pieter Weening did their bit in the final. From there, I had two of the fastest guys in the race as my lead out.”

Two possible options

With Matthews also a fast finisher, it had been a hard choice for the team to choose between its two sprinters. Impey is usually the last lead-out man in the train of Matthews Goss, but today he got a rare chance to go for the victory himself.

“We talked a lot this morning about who we’d race for in the sprint – me or Michael,” Impey added. “The two of us share a lot of similar qualities as sprinters, and either of us would have given up our chances for the other. We started the day intending to work for me, and mid-way through the race, I confirmed that I was feeling really good, so we stuck with that decision.”

Sports director Neil Stephens agreed that it had been a difficult choice.

“It’s a good problem to have,” he said. “In Michael Matthews and Daryl Impey, we had two potential stage winners. Obviously, one of them was going to have to dedicate himself to the other. They both understood this, and Michael said he’d take the last lead out role. No doubt that we’ll look for a win with Michael on another day.”

Gerrans sacrificed the race lead

Impey was impressed by the level of support, and it was a special feeling to see the race leader sacrifice his own chances to work for his South African teammate.

“Most of the job was already done by the time I started my sprint,” Impey said “I was in a great position, and I had a really good legs. When you have the guy in the yellow jersey doing the lead out, it really highlights the team’s commitment to one another.”

However, Gerrans' work came at a price. With no bonus seconds in the race and 17 riders equal on time, the order of those 17 riders is determined by count back. Gerrans took a hard turn inside the final kilometer and dropped back afterwards while some of his competitors participating in the sprint. With Francesco Gavazzi (Astana) adding a 2nd place to his 4th place in yesterday's stage, he took over the lead.

Gerrans admitted that he had hoped to keep the jersey, but said that the stage win was always the priority.

“I wasn’t quite sure what the situation was on the line,” Gerrans said. “I actually thought that I might have kept the jersey. Either way, I was happy to sacrifice the jersey and give Daryl the opportunity to take the stage win.”

Sports director Neil Stephens knew that the pre-race tactics involved the risk of losing the jersey.

“That’s how count back works,” he explained. “He (Gerrans, ed.) won yesterday and was on equal time today but placed nowhere. Equal time is broken by count back, so Simon lost the jersey.”

“We talked about our objectives honestly,” he continued. “A stage win was the priority over keeping the yellow jersey for another day, but we were hoping we could accomplish both. That Simon Gerrans played such an important role in the sprint showed that we were willing to sacrifice the jersey for the stage.”

Gerrans enjoyed race lead

However, Gerrans had enjoyed his one-day stint as race leader.

“It was a nice feeling to have the yellow jersey,” said Gerrans. “It’s not every day that you get to be the leader of such a prestigious race. There was a lot of support on the roadside, and I got a few pats on the back in the peloton as well. It’s not something I thought I’d keep until the end of the race, but it nice to have it today.”

Impey may have been the star of the day, but Stephens emphasized the early work done by Cristian Meier to make Impey's victory possible.

“Christian made it a tactically easy day for us until the final ten kilometres,” he explained “It was perfect. One rider (Amets Txurruka, ed.) went away looking to keep the mountain jersey, and Christian said to me he was happy to set a good tempo that would keep him out there at a reasonable distance. He did exactly that, and his work kept his teammates fresh for the finish. Albasini came up and collaborated during the second half of the race, but Christian certainly deserves all the credit for the early work.”

Perfect teamwork

After a calm start to the race, the finish involved a category 3 climb and a difficult descent inside the final 10 kilometres. Cohesion was key in this part of the race, and Stephens was impressed by the way the team managed to stay together in the hectic run-in to the finish line.

“There was a tricky descent coming off that last climb,” he said. “A few riders got away, and things weren’t completely in our control for a bit. After the descent, we hit crosswinds. A lot of riders had lost wheels on the descent, and they were trying to get back to the bunch in the crosswinds. The team did a great job staying in contact with each other. If one was 20 wheels back, one was 40 wheels back and one was 60 wheels back, we would have been in trouble. Given how complicated the finish was, I was impressed that they could keep it altogether.”

“In the last few kilometres, everybody could see that Simon, Michael Matthews and Daryl Impey were in the perfect place,” he added “What most people didn’t see is the work that Clarkey and Wes did to get them there. It was a really complicated puzzle of a finish, and we did it well to pull off such a fantastic result.”

Heading into the mountains

With the sprint stages now behind the riders in the Basque Country, it is time for the GC contenders to take center stage. Tomorrow's stage has an uphill finish with the final 400 meters averaging more than 20%, and the team will turn its attention to GC hope Pieter Weening.

“We’ve got a lot of momentum, and we’re gaining a lot of confidence,” Impey said. “The morale is pretty high in the team at the moment. The sprinters like myself will take a back seat in the mountains. We’ll look after Weening and Clarke the next couple days. They’re both riding really well, and Pete might even be able to do something on the overall. We didn’t have the option last year, and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can do there.” 

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