Weather:
Sunny with cloud patches, some fog in mountains

Wind:
inconsequential

Temperature:
25° in valleys, 14° at summit

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IN BRIEF:

In passing 1st col:
Piccoli
Manzano
Moller

At the foot of 1st category Escurial, new escape develops, plays out on slopes:
Zaballa
Landis
Vicioso
Moreini
Eladio
Lastras
Manzano
Piccoli
De Los Angeles
Edo
Vila
Moller
Pereiro
Kroon
Zberg
Lara
Sandstod

This escape, which started at km 10, now has 6'30" advance.

The gap reaches 8 minutes before group attacks the Alto de los Leones, an 8km climb with difficult passages.

Kroon passes into lead at the intermediary sprint. Sprinters Petacchi & Zabel don't have the occasion to contest sprint.

The gap stabilizes.
Klaus Moller attacks in group of 19 in most difficult passaage.

Sevilla is in front of the peloton, where many riders are being distanced.
Unai Osa takes the front of the peloton with force.

Moller stays in lead over the summit of Leones, leading:
Pereiro
Zaballa
Vicioso

Behind, Galdeano is distanced by peloton, looking for help.
Beltran also distanced.

Heras & Nozal stay in good position in peloton of 30.

In front Moller has 5'36" on peloton & 40" on 3 pursuers.

There remain 60km to ride; Moller is joined by the 3, forming new lead group.

Galdeano and his group have 20" deficit on peloton.

In front of peloton, Sevilla attacks with another rider.

Another group is formed between peloton & leaders, which includes Valverde, Perez, Cardenas, Del Olmo & Jeker.

Galdeano & group catch back up with peloton.

Piccoli fades back from lead group and is joined by Valverde group.

With 55km left to go, lead group still has over 4' advance; now composed of 11 riders:
Pereiro
Landis
Vicioso
Simeoni
Zaballa
Moller
Lara
Moreini
De Los Angeles
Zberg
Kroon

Kroon, after being distanced, advances back to lead, soon to be overtaken by a supersonic Zaballa. The 11 reform group.

Before Pradera the gap is 4'18"; 2nd intermediary sprint will be judged here, with Zabel too far back to gain any points. Becoming likely that one of the 11 will win the stage.

In 3rd mountain pass (3me category), Zaballa passes into lead near summit.

Zaballa, very strong today, leaves group as they arrive in Pradera with 36km remaining.

The leader possesses a 3'45" lead on the peloton.

Battles unfoding in the front; Kroon, then Lara atack to try to overtake Zaballa. Finally Zaballa overtaken by 4:
Lara
Moller
Simeoni
Landis

Behind, important developments: Nozal is fading on climb, in which Heras has taken 50" lead.

Meanwhile, Simeoni in lead with Moller.

Nozal strugglinlg, now over a minute behind Heras. Serrano falls back to help, but Nozal still in difficulty. Galdeano is even further back.

Heras reaches summit of the Navcerrada with a 1'11" deficit on Simeoni & Moller, but with a 1'25" advance on Nozal.
Floyd Landis stays back to help Heras in the last kilometers, to bolster his lead on Nozal.

Heras now part of a pursuit group of 8, including Valverde.

With under 12km to go, after summit, Galdeano, Serrano, Vicioso & Nozal regroup to roll fast and limit damage, with some success: gold jersey of Nozal appears to be saved.

Heras-Valverde group has 1'18" lead on peloton with 8km remaining.

From 50" a few km back, Heras pursuit group now just 23" down from leaders.
At 3km mark the gap is only 15" from leaders.
Meanwhile, Heras-Valverde group more or less maintains same lead over Nozal et al.

Zaballa falls in roundabout, slowing down momentum of pursuit group with just under 3km to go.

In front, Simeoni arrives on last straightaway with Moller, launches sprint, and holds his lead to the line.

The Heras group arrives 16" later, with Perdiguero winning group sprint for 3rd.

Nozal arrives with a 1'13" deficit on Heras.

Galdeano slips to 3rd overall, 3'03" behind Nozal, as Heras rises to 2nd, 1'55" behind the l

Le classement de l'étape

1 - SIMEONI
2 - MOLLER
3 - PERDIGUERO à 16"
4 - MORENI mt
5 - ZBERG
6 - CARDENAS
7 - OSA
8 - RASMUSSEN
9 - VALVERDE
10 - SEVILLA
11 - HERAS

le classement Général

1 - NOZAL
2 - HERAS à 1'55"
3 - GLEZ de GALDEANO à 3' 03"
4 - VALVERDE à 4'06"
5 - MANCEBO à 5'13
6 - BELTRAN à 5'16"
7 - RASMUSSEN à 6'11"
8 - PEREZ à 7'37"


le classement des grimpeurs

1 - CARDENAS 194
2 - OSA unai 112
3 - HORRACH 101
4 - VALVERDE 88
5 - PEREZ 72

Le classement des points

1 - ZABEL 151
2 - Petacchi 135
3 - Valverde 132
4 - Cardenas 107
5 - Rasmussen 99

Le classement du Combiné

1 - VALVERDE
2 - CARDENAS
3 - RASMUSSEN

Le classement par équipes

1 - ONCE
2 - IBANESTO à 1'31"
3 - KELME à 19'24"
4 - COFIDIS à 29'54"
5 - EUSKALTEL à 38'