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General comments
Stage 16


Tuesday 23th September:
stage 16: Jaen - Sierra Nevada 162km.

We begin the third week, after a day of rest in Jaen, with a stage having a difficult finish: Sierra Nevada, the highest point of the Vuelta which is the summit of alberto Fernandez.
this stage may reveal a great part of the final standings

FILM of the STAGE
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t laste
 


HERAS pourra t-il réduire l'écart avec NOZAL qui est à 4 minutes. Il faudrait qu'il lui reprenne au moins 2 minutes pour conserver une chance de victoire à Madrid.

100km avant l'arrivée, les 2 échappés, Tauler et lobato, sortis du groupe des 15 premiers échappés.
les labarca veulent réduire l'écart avec les 15 échappés et permettent au peloton de les reprendre
Le peloton plaisante et chantonne, avec les 2 échappés devant qui ne l'inquiètent pas.
Le peloton a mis en route pour réduire l' écart de 8 minutes avec les 2 échappés.
au sprint intermédiaire de Grenade, Zabel passe devant Petacchi et lui grapille 1 pt, ce qui conforte son maillot à pois.


Au pied de la sierra Glez de galdeano se débarasse de son casque.
Comme on s'y attendait l'US postale passe de suite à l'attaque dés les premiers reliefs de la Sierra Nevada.
Beltran commence à faiblir, sous le rythme de Floyd Landis qui emmène Heras.
Le peloton reste groupé.
L'allure fléchit lorsque Beltran se place en tête.
Sevilla place la kelme à l'avant pour controler le train et sort en force devant.
Sevilla à l'attaque, Heras prend immédiatement sa roue,
Rasmussen saute à son tour dans la roue de Heras et Sevilla, pourtant ce groupe tergiverse et ne s'entend pas. On est encore loin de l'arrivée.
L'attaque trop franche de Sevilla ayant mis Valverde resté dans le peloton en difficulté, Sevilla a levé le pied et le peloton se regroupe.
Nouvelle attaque de Sevilla en chasse derrière Unai Osa sorti seul du peloton

Ils sont 4 à l'avant: Sevilla, Mercado, Cardenas et Atienza. ils ont repris et distancé unai Osa,
Il sreprennent ensuite Tauler qui avait laché prise à l'avant d'abord, puis Lobato.
Valverde revient sur les 4
Valverde revient avec Piepoli et Delolmo
Heras est resté dans le peloton
Ils sont 7 devant, après le retour des 3 poursuivants.
Sevilla et Valverde mènent le train de ce groupe le plus souvent
les 7 poursuivent leur effort

attaque de Mercado qui sort du groupe des 7
Derrière Heras a attaqué 6 km avant l'arrivée avec Rasmussen dans la roue; ils rejoignent et distancent Unai Osa
Après un léger ralentissemnt du train, Unai Osa revient sur Heras et Rasmussen

A 1km du sommet, Mercado est toujours seul en tête poursuivi par Cardenas, sorti du groupe de poursuivants.
Mercado lancé vers la ligne à 800m de l'arrivée
Mercado à 700m de la ligne
Cardenas revenu comme un boulet de canon, passe Mercado au lieu de rester dans sa roue, préférant ne pas prendre le risque d'un sprint.
Cardenas victorieux
Cardenas passe la ligne

Mercado le héros du jour passe deuxième, le panache lui revenant plus qu'à Cardenas qui est resté dans les roues pendant presque toute l'ascension
Sevilla et Valverde 3ème et 4ème devant Piepoli et Delolmo
Unai Osa arrive 7ème devant Heras 8ème et Rasmussen 9ème.

Nozal arrive avec 54" de retard sur Heras
Glez de galdeano a été distancé il termine dans un groupe derrière celui de Nozal.
Cardenas consolide son maillot orange
Heras perplexe a repris 54" mais cela va t'il suffir? sans doute pas pour l'ORO à Madrid
NOZAL toujours en ORO
Sevilla le principal attaquant du jour, 3 ème de l'étape
Valverde gagne une place au général il passe Beltran et devient 4 ème à près de 2 minutes de Heras 3ème.

 

Commentaire:
In its gereral contour today's stage between Jaèn and Sierra Nevada greatly resembled Sunday's race ending in La Pandera; each began with a long, relatively flat introduction followed by a serious climb for a dramatic finale. Both races, as well, revealed a lot about the styles and characters of some of the principle players in this Vuelta.

Today we saw, once again, aggressive and daring riding by Cardenas & Valverde, who were both rewarded by a rise in their rankings. We saw sound and essentially successful defensive riding on the part of Once partners Galdeano & Nozal. And we saw a Roberto Heras who continues to gain on the leader, but not as decisively as might have been hoped.

An escape developed 30km from the start, involving 15 riders from various teams. Finally 2 riders detatched themselves from the group--Pedro Diaz Lobato & Antonio Tauler--before the rest were swallowed up by the peloton.

The peloton was extremely relaxed at this point, with a congenial, almost festive air, as riders from different teams chatted and joked and even sang together. The 2 escapees were given a pretty f ree rein by the peloton, which only became concerned when the gap reached 8 minutes.

At that point Rabobank & Labarce took the peloton in hand and began the task of closing in, to the end of helping Rasmussen & Cardenas.

The climb began a few kilometers after Grenada, and would continue for 30km, reaching a gradient of 8°.

U.S. Postal took over as they began to climb, while the peloton started breaking into groups. The front group contained most of the leaders of this tour, including Heras & Nozal & others who've become familiar animating figures in this Vuelta.

Attacks, counterattacks and pursuits were the order of the day, and ultimately a group of 7 developed a lead of nearly 1 minute. Enlivened by the efforts of Sevilla, the group also included Mercado, Cardenas, U. Osa, Pieopoli, DelOlmo & Valverde.

First Tauler, and later Lobato were caught by the pursuit group, and eventually by the peloton.

With 9km left Mercado broke free from the lead group, just 15" ahead of some very motivated riders, notably Valverde & Cardenas, who both stood to gain a place in the overall standings.

As the peloton hovered at just under a minute behind, Heras finally made his move at the 6km mark. As he stood in his pedals and attacked, he was followed by Rasmussen & Osa; soon it was just Heras & Rasmussen.

With 2km remaining Heras (with Rasmussen still in his wheel) had put 33" on the peloton, and most i mportantly on Nozal. At this rate Heras could conceivably take over the no. 2 position from Galdeano, who was further back in the peloton being pulled by Once teamate Marcos Serrano.

After mounting a solo climb that lasted 8km, Mancebo was caught by Cardenas with just a few hundred meters to go. Cardenas pulled in front to takde the race, giving him a stage win to accompany his orange jersey, while Sevilla took 3rd, just ahead of Valverde.

Heras showed his class as a climber by sustaining a 6km dash to the line, in which he gained 54" on Nozal. His momentum has put him within 6" of 2nd place Galdeano, whom he will certainly displace before long.

With 3'09" seperating him from Nozal, though, Heras will have to change his style drastically to take the grand prize at this point. That is, he'll have to chuck his conservative approach and risk an all out attack from afar. With an uphill time trial immediately following Friday's last mountainous stage, only Heras and his legs can decide if that's a gamble worth taking.

Regardless of how Heras manages his last chances, one must applaud the entire Once team for so brilliantly defending their leader's position, and in particular Isidro Nozal for maintaining such a cool head under enormous pressure.




le classement de l'étape.

1- Cardenas
2 - Mercado à 5"
3 - Sevilla à 18"
4 - Valverde à 18"
5 - Piepoli à 21"
6 - Delolmo
7 - Osa
8 - Heras 1' 02"
9 - Rasmussen à 1'02"
10 - Mancebo à 1'11"

Le classement général

1 - NOZAL
2 - Glez de Galdeano à 3'03"
3 - Heras à 3'09"
4 - Valverde à 5'
5 - Beltran à 5'16"
6 - Mancebo à 6'27"
7 - Rasmussen à 7'34"
8 - Perez à 8'51"
9 - Unai Osa à 9'02"
10 - Cardenas à 9'28"

Le classement par points

1 - ZABEL 135
2 - Petacchi 130
3 - Valverde 125
4 - Cardenas 97
5 - Nozal 92
cadre10-130-8 / 360 / 510