Commentaire:

Today's individual time trial in and around the city of Alvacete, still in the flat plains of La Mancha, held an element of suspense and drama on two counts: first, would time trial star David Millar take his revenge on Nozal, the surprise winner a week ago in Zaragoza? And, would there be a significant shake up in the general order of things?

If there's one thing many of us are starting to understand in thie Vuelta, it's not to underestimate Isidro Nozal, who's worn the leader's Gold Jersey for 10 days running and who, day by day, seems to go from strengh to strengh as he gradually increases his lead.

Ever since entering the Pyrénées after last week's time trial, most of us have been expecting the relatively unknown and inexperienced Nozal to crumble and hand over his coveted jersey to one of the seasoned veterans or proven pure climbers. It didn't happen in the Pyrénées or after, nor did it happen today. Nozal has shown that his 1'20" victory over Millar last week was not a fluke or a case merely of a surcharge of adrenalin.

Millar rode a good race this morning, leaving in the 10th position. He didn't have the benefit of hindsight nor the advice of teamates, nor the times of his true opponents. He just rode an excellent technical race, in which neither he nor his Directeur Sportiff was disappointed.

Although one rider bettered his quarter & halfway splits, no one throughout the day could equal his finishing time of 1:02'16". The last half of the course was especially problematic, as it turned directly into the wind; these conditions didn't change significantly for anyone as the day progressed.

There were some other great performances early in the day which would hold up well.

Klaus Moller of Milaneza was the one rider who bettered Millar's first two splits, up 7" at 14km & 4" at 27km. However, at the 3/4 point (41km) he had fallen back to minus 11", to finish 32" down. Moller's first two splits set the standard for the rest of the day, while his final time secured him 5th place.

The Russian Sergui Ivanov, also of Fassa Bortolo, rode a more even paced race to finish 1" ahead and take 4th, while Bert Grabsch of Phonak put in an even more elevated time to finish 3rd, just 27" behind Millar.

As the race progressed toward the top of the classifications, we could start expecting significant developments.

Would Dario Frigo make up for his disastrous finish yesterday, where he lost 1'08" on his adversaries? Frigo, normally a good time trialist, had another bad day and lost over 4 minutes to Millar, putting him over 9 minutes away from Nozal in general.

Rasmussen, who's been a great surprise and a high finisher in nearly every stage, didn't fare much better than he did in last week's time trial, losing nearly 4 & 1/2 minutes to Millar to fall back to 7th overall.

Perez did a bit better, limiting his deficit to 3'09" on Millar, bringing him back into the top 10 at 8th overall.

Valverde had a quite good race and ended up a respectable 2 & 1/2 minutes down from Millar; he's now 6th overall.

Mancebo, more of a climber than a roller, struggled today in losing over 3 minutes to Millar to end up with a 7'12" deficit to make up on Nozal; he's in 5th overall.

That leavez Beltran & Heras. Both U.S. Postal riders, pure climbers and contenders for the podium in Madrid, needed to limit the damage sure to be imposed by Once leaders Galdeano & Nozal. Nozal

proved himself very capable in this discipline last week, and Galdeano is considered a past master. Heras again showed consistency and intelligence. While he doesn't have the flat back and still bodied form of a true time trialist,, he still rode calmly and effectively throughout the course. His splits were consistently good, 24" off Millar at 14km, & 48" at 27km, and he worked well battling the headwinds in the final 26km to finish 1'32" down from Millar for 6th place. Beltran also rode well to finish 2'23" behind Millar. Heras rises to 3rd overall, now with a 5'13" deficit to make up on Nozal, while Beltran slips to 4th overall.

When Galdeano and finally Nozal left the starting gates, the surprising thing was how immediately apparent Nozal's superiority was in form and pace. Flat over the handlebars and virtually unmoving except for the regular cadence of his legs, Nozal gained over his teamate at every point of measurement, up to 54" at the 41km point. Significantly, he was slightly ahead of Millar at all 3 points; it only remained to be seen if he could maintain his rhythm riding into the headwinds in the closing 12km. He succeeded brilliantly to finish in 1:02'03", 13 seconds ahead of Millar.

One can no longer doubt this young cyclist. His consistently strong and often brilliant riding has won the minds of many. Stage by stage, as he dons his gold jersey and holds his trophies aloft in front of the crowds, one can't help but feel that his open, generous and innocent smile is also winning the hearts of many.

Classement de l'étape

1 - NOZAL
2 - Millar à 13"
3 - Ivanov 40"
4 - Grabsch 44"
5 - Moller 45"
6 - Glez de galdeano à 1' 15"
7 - Heras à 1' 45"
8 - santos gonzalez à 2' 03"
9 - Leipheimer à 2' 14"
10 - Tauler à 2' 23"


Classement général

1 - NOZAL
2 - Glez de galdeano à 3' 03
3 - Heras à 5' 13"
4 - Beltran à 5' 39"
5 - Mancebo à 7'12"
6 - Valverde à 7' 50"
7 - Rasmussen à 8' 44"
8 - Perez à 8' 49"
9 - Frigo à 8' 50"
10 - Osa 10' 10"