Commentaire:

The 12th stage of the Tour of Spain promised, as in previous stages, high drama. This time it delivered, in spades.

Today's race was likely to be problematic because of the notorious winds which blow accross the plains of La Mancha; the wind has a tendency to cause large gaps in the peloton, and the manner in which teams deal with this problem can be decisive.

An early breakaway occured only 4km into the course, mounted by Zaballa , Lubato, Perdiguero & Borosso. Nearing the halfway point tthe 4 had built up a lead of 5'45". But to hold off the peloton in such fast conditions they would need at least a 10 to 12 minute advance. Between the contour of the course (mostly descending) and the wind (mostly a tailwind in the early phases), the 168 riders left in the tour were attaining a near record speed--51.137 km/h.

The peloton was brisk, lively and nervous, with lots of activity in the front. Once, Quick Step, Bianchi & Domina all had their turns at the head of the peloton; the gap between the 4 leaders and the peloton narrowed.

Near the 57km point the 4 began to relax, as it became clear that they could no longer hope to hold off the advancing peloton, now being propelled by Fassa Bortolo.

For a moment the entire peloton seemed to relax, obviously fatigued by their recent efforts. Then Sandstod & Martinez launched an attack. The 2 riders didn't get far, though, before being reeled back in at the 50km point.

The countryside was open, flat farmland and the roads were straight as far as the eye could see; the peloton was elongated, almost single file. As the winds shifted into a less favorable aspect, a great fissure opened in the peloton.

The U.S. Postal team was riding 7 strong in the front, pulling the 25 to 30 man peloton at a rapid pace. Once had 4 riders well placed, including Nozal & Galdeano. Mancebo was there with 2 Ibanesto teamates, as were 3 Euskatels. Zabel & Petacchi were there without support, as were Perez, Rasmussen & Sevilla.

As the race approached a left turn that would put the riders into a 3/4 headwind, U.S.Postal executed a perfect coup by going into evantail formation on the right hand side of the route, forcing other teams and individuals to form their own evantails behind in order to cope with the wind.

There were by this point 3 pelotons, with Darrio Frigo, Airto Gonzolaz, Valverde and most of the Kelme team trapped behind, as were Cardenas & U. Osa.

As the 20km mark neared, 40" seperated the first 2 pelotons, with a 3rd peloton even further back. U.S. Postal was very motivated to improve the situation for Beltran & Heras before tomorrow's time trial, in which both Frigo & A. Gonzalez excell, particularly in light of Frigo's 4th overall placement, a mere 2 seconds behind Beltran.

Frigo, Valverde, A. Gonzalez & the group of about 40, desperate to make up for lost time as they may have been, could only watch the distance increase, to 45" at the 10km mark.

As the lead peloton negociated the turns heading into the outskirts of Albacete, there was plenty of activity near the front. Mancebo took the lead with 4km to go; a massive acceleration was underway, and a 54" margin was attained.

Lombardi, Petacchi & Zabel were in front nearing the last 2km. Then Unai Etxebarria shot out to lead the developing sprint by a good 20 meters, and looked set to take the stage. He couldn't hold out against the specialists, though, and a block of sprinters overwhelmed him with less than a 100 meters to go. From then on it was a duel between Petacchi & Zabel; Petacchi was in front and Zabel was gaining, and seemed just on the point of raising his arms up in the air to signify victory, when it apparently struck him that he'd fallen just short.He lost by the same margin that he'd won by yesterday over a frustrated Boonen--a mere 10cm.

The Score: Petacchi 3, Zabel 2. Zabel still leads in the points to hold onto the polka dot jersey, however.

Overall Frigo fell from 4th to 8th, Rasmussen (after yet another top 10 finish) rose to 7th, & both Heras & Mancebo rose up a notch, to 4th & 5th respectively.

Stage classification

1 - Petacchi
2 - Zabel
3 - Rodriguez fred
4 - Bertolini
5 - Schweda
6 - Vicioso
7 - Mancebo
8 - Barry
9 - Rasmussen
10 - Sevilla

General classification

1 - NOZAL
2 - GLEZ de GALDEANO à 1'48"
3 - BELTRAN à 3'28"
4 - HERAS à 3'40"
5 - MANCEBO à 4'04"
6 - RASMUSSEN à 4'14"
7- FRIGO à 5'06"
8 - VALVERDE à 5'09"

Points

1 - ZABEL 112
2 - PETACCHI 101
3 - VALVERDE 81
4 - NOZAL 66
5 - RASMUSSEN 63