There
remain 165 riders.
Beltran,
a native of Jeàn, will no doubt try to shine in front
of his supporters.
Nozal
carries the Gold Jersey; what a sensation for the young rider
who had determined to quit racing after a disappointing Tour
De France this year.
Garcia
Acosta tries an escape but is retaken.
16
riders in their turn have a try.
At
km 35 4 riders have made the breakaway.
Nieto
Barroso
Calvo
Torrente
100km
from the finish they have a 5' advance.
The
peloton is relaxed and without worries about the escapees, before
true hostilites begin on the final ascent.
50km
from the line the 4 escapees hold a 3'45" lead.
Two
of the four are left--Torrente & Calvo.
They hold a 1'46" lead on the peloton with 35km left.
In
the first slopes, the group loses time, now only a 55"
advance.
Kelme
leads the peloton in an animated fashion.
At 32km from finish the lead group has only 39".
Galdeano
has problems, is sidelined until he can change bikes. He does
so & rejoins peloton & Once teamates.
The
2 escapees are retaken.
Zabel
wins the last intermediary sprint at 24km, to gain points on
Petacchi and take back the points polka dot jersey.
Jufre
escapes alone, and is retaken.
Approaching
la Pandera the teams battle for position for their leaders;
now in Alto de Villares.
Laiseka
attacks, now 21" up on peloton. Frigo falls back.
Inigo
Cuesta attacks, and Kelme rider Quesada leaves peloton, now
pulled by U.S. Postal.
Osa
attacks, leaves peloton.
Quesada
retaken, now only Laiseka ahead with 30" advance.
Mercado
attacks, followed by Sevilla.
Interspersed,
we now have Sevilla, Mercado, Cuesta, Atienza, and ... Cardenas.
Laiseka
reaches summit of Alto de Villares alone, Cardenas after.
Laiseka
retaken, Cardenas extends lead to 16".
Del
Olmo leaves peloton with Cuesta.
At
6.5km from the finish Cardenas has 29" lead on the peloton.
Heras
attacks and catches Cardenas.
They have around 1' lead on Nozal.
Behind
them are Sevilla & Valverde, at 12".
Duel
between Cardenas & Heras on steep slopes with 2km remaining.
Serrano
and then Galdeano await Nozal to give him support.
Heras
can't shake Cardenas, who stays right in his wheel.
The
gap between Heras & Nozal has stabilized, at around a minute,
after extremely difficult passages.
At
1km point, where the course levels out momentarily, Heras &
Cardenas have only slight lead on Valverde.
Valverde
arrives in the wheels of Heras & Cardenas. In the last few
dozen meters he surges like a cannonball after the last corners.
He
passes Cardenas to win by 3 bike lenghts on the line; they have
the same official time, while Heras, 10 meeters back, is 2"
down.
le
classement de l'étape
1 - VALVERDE
2 - CARDENAS même temps
3 - HERAS à 2"
4 - SEVILLA à 10"
5 - PERDIGUERO à 56"
6 - PEREZ à 57"
7 - RASMUSSEN à 57"
8 - BELTRAN à 57"
9 - MOLLER
à 58"
10÷ 87 OSA, Unai a 1:02
11÷ 85 MANCEBO, Francisco a 1:12
12÷ 67 SCARPONI, Michele a 1:13
13÷ 125 DEL OLMO, Txema a 1:13
14÷ 21 GLEZ. GALDEANO, Igor a 1:13
15÷ 26 NOZAL, Isidro a 1:13
Le classement général
1- NOZAL
2 - GLEZ de galdeano 3' 03"
3 - HERAS à 4' 02"
4 - BELTRAN à 5'23"
5 - VALVERDE à 6'37"
6- MANCEBO à 7'11"
7 - RASMUSSEN à 8'28"
le classement des grimpeurs
1- CARDENAS 139 pts
2 - OSA Unai 106
3 - HORRACH 97
4 - PEREZ 62
5 - JUFRE 55
le classement par points
1 - ZABEL 134
2 - PETACCHI 130
3 - VALVERDE 109
4 - NOZAL 92
5 - RASMUSSEN 72
Le combiné
1 - VALVERDE 15
2 - NOZAL 17
3 - CARDENAS 18
4 - PEREZ 19
5 - RASMUSSEN 21