Horner takes Vuelta lead with win

American Chris Horner of the RadioShack team claimed his first grand tour victory in the third stage of the Tour of Spain on Monday and took the overall lead in the process.

The 41-year-old produced an impressive kick in the 4km climb to the finishing line to edge out 2009 champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez, who finished third in this year’s Tour de France.

Overnight leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) finished 11th, the Giro d’Italia champion dropping to second overall just six seconds behind Horner.

“I arrived in great form, I like the route of this tour and I feel strong,” Horner said after being presented with the leader’s red jersey.

“My objective is to be as high as possible in the general classification. I have already won the Tour of the Basque country and I think I can win the Tour of Spain.”

Solid performance

It was another solid day for Valverde and Rodriguez as they continued to make up the time they lost in the team time trial on the opening day, with six and four bonus seconds respectively for their places on the podium.

“I feel good and you can see that based on what I am showing in the race. It was a shame that we didn’t quite manage the victory again today, but it is a positive to pick up bonuses,” said Valverde who currently lies sixth in the overall classification, 24 seconds behind Horner.

Meanwhile, Sky leader Sergio Henao endured another frustrating day however as he now trails the leaders by over three minutes.

Team director for the race Nicolas Portal said earlier in the day that the Colombian had amazingly forgotten to eat during the second stage on Sunday, leaving him drained as he was dropped from the peloton on the demanding category one climb up the Alto do Monte da Groba.

And his luck didn’t improve on Monday as he first suffered a puncture and was then involved in a minor crash.

A second crash involving one of the pre-stage favourites Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) then split the peloton into two groups with Movistar, Astana and Katusha pushing the pace in the leading pack.

However, as they reached the final climb up the Mirador de Lobeira, it was Italian Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing) who launched a surprise attack.

Santaromita though went too early and was easily reeled in by the chasing pack as Horner impressively held off Valderde, Rodriguez and Henao’s teammate Rigoberto Uran to take victory.