Anton Varabei, team Ride for the Planet, scored his career best result winning the second stage of the Vuelta Costa Rica and now leading the points competition and third overall in the general classification !
Heres is what Anton had to say:
My first Pro win!
Stage two on paper was best suited for me; mostly flat with no major climbs. So I knew it was today or never! Motivation to get in the breakaway was high, and most likely the only way to win, as i don't think any of the GC riders would want animate the race on a flat stage, especially after a hard fight yesterday. It was essentially a team that won by 12 min using up most of their riders to drive the break vs the team with the winner of past two editions of the Vuelta. So two best teams were tired. That means I had to go the long way! Which is exactly my strength. Firstly, however I had to survive two nasty hills early in the race. The pace was high all the way to the hills and it didn't look like anything would go until then. Luckily I was able to hang on to the group over the hills and nothing has gotten away without me. Once over the top, I had a few minutes to recover as everyone was bunching up uninterested attacking into coming downhill. Perfect. Because this is my domain. Attack into downhill, 'super-tuck' and open the gap. I had one rider come with me and pressed on. At first I was nervous, worried that just 2 guys would not be enough to stay away for 100+km left in race...with that heat and tired legs from the breakaway effort in yesterday's long stage. But the gaps grew steadily up to 9 min at one point. The GC team uninterested to bring us back, and no other teams made an effort to bridge. I only had to beat one guy. My opponent was significantly smaller and skinnier than me, putting a hurt on me on one of the steep climb but was clearly not a great sprinter and was starting to get weak on the flats. As long as he doesn't leave me behind on 10km grind at 2% towards the finish I was confident the win would be mine. He made no effort to attack me, likely do to the fact that he was tired. I decided to wait untill the sprint rather than test his legs with attacks that could backfire if he was "bluffing" and save the legs myself. The approach to the finish was supposed to have a few turns, but turned out to be a lot more narrow and technical than i thought. He attacked out of the first corner, unsuccessfully...i was glued to his wheel. He pressed hard toward the next corner and here is were the DISASTER struck! The moto's in front of us were to close in front and had to slow significantly more than us going into it. My poor companion totally misjudged the difference in speeds and went full speed smashing right in to one of them right after the apex as they we too slow to re-accelerate. Although I sort of saw it coming leaving a bit of the gap, I too had no choice but run over his body as he came down in the middle of my turning radius. WE ARE BOTH DOWN on the ground with about 600m to go! We both got up at same time and grabbed the bikes. My heart sank for a moment; a sure win slipping away. Who ever get on the bike first wins the race. In the midst of the panic and scramble I can't believe I actually remembered to look at my chain before jumping right back on...unlike my opponent. The cycling gods looked upon me this time, and must have decided it was enough of misfortunes in my career. Miraculously I managed to put the chain right back on with one spin of the crank. Has it jammed in the frame even slightly, I would have lost the race. I jumped on, looked back and saw that he was still struggling with the bike. The Stage was mine. I even had time to salute the crowd and celebrate. It was glorious! ...Although, I wish I had the chance to beat him in fair sprint.
I have to thank the team Ride for the Planet for giving me the opportunity to come down here, the support of the staff, neutral support and my breakaway companion's team for giving us the endless bottle feeds in this scorching heat. I must have gone thru like 30 bottles today, drinking and dumping ice water. Could not have survived out there otherwise! I'm going to dedicate this to Jean-Michel who likely would have been going for the win in this stage too has he not broke his elbow few weeks ago in Guatemala. He could have stayed home in Canada to recover, but he bought a flight ticket last minute and came out to support us anyway. I'm happy to at least repay his efforts in organizing all of this with the win. Merci! "
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