The 166km 8th stage of the Vuelta, departing from the French mountain village of Cauterets to arrive in the Spanish ski station Pla De Beret, held the possibility of high drama and changes of great consequence in the overall standings. The race unfurled in similar fashion to yesterday's first Pyrénéen mountain stage, with long but essentially inconsequential escapes followed by attacks & counterattacks from behind.

The grand coup, thus, has yet to arrrive. In the top 10, Heras slipped down a notch while Galdeano took back his 2nd place, but otherwise the situation remains unchanged. Nozal kept his god jersey, with both he & Galdeano riding with relative ease compared with yesterday's desperate measures.

Nine riders escaped early in the race on the Col d'Aspin; as none of them posed a real threat to the rankings, the peloton let them go. The 9 continued to build up a distance between themselves & the peloton that reached 5 minutes approaching the category 1 Col de Portillon.

An 8km climb, the Portillon is shorter but no less challenging than the Aspin or Peyresourde, averaging an 8.1 degree gradient.

Horrach (Milanoza), J. Rodriguez (Once), U. Osa (Ibanesto), Eladio Jiminez (Ibanesto, Lara (Bianchi), Zaballa (Kelme), Jufre (Relax), Lunghi (Alessio) & U. Etxebarria cleared the Portillon and stretched their lead to 6'15".

The only challenge up to this point came from Rasmussen, evidently not content to rest on his laurels after yesterday's stage victory. Going into the summit of the Portillon he put 50 meters between himself and the now reduced peloton of around 30 riders.

Descending into the valley before the long 30km final climb, the peloton looked relaxed and unconcerned, taking the time to ingest crucial nourishment while they could.

Sevilla was struggling and had dropped back, while the leading peloton was especially animated by the constant forays of Aitor Gonzalez.

At this point Virenque attacked, soon to be joined by Jose Luis Martinez. They stretched their advance to around a minute and a half. But one had to ask, could Virenque possibly make up the still large 5 minute deficit with less than 30 km to go? Or was it a wasted (and ultimately costly) effort?

The peloton had formed into 40 riders now, with 4 Once teamates leading the way and picking up the pace. Cofidis, Kelme, & Ibanesto were also very present, but U.S. Postal, on the other hand, had only Heras & a fading Beltran.

As Lara fell back from the leading 9 to join Virenque & Martinez briefly at the 15km point, a new counterattack was launched by Perez & Cardenas, followed by Unai Osa.

The new group of pursuers, now joined by Rasmussen, overtook Virenque & Martinez, who couldn't keep up with the pace set by Perez.

In the peloton Aitor Gonzalez turned on the heat, with Heras in his wheels. Nozal & Galdeano were hanging on--limiting the damage--while Beltran had fallen well back.

The lead group had broken into bits, with J. Rodriguez & A. Osa well out in front, to end in a 2 man sprint to the finish. In his 2nd year as a professional, the 25 year old Joquin Rodriguez prevailed by one and a half bike lengths, giving the Once team yet another victory.

All of the original breakaway group save Lara finished in front to take the top 8, with Rasmussen & Perez rounding out the top 10.

The biggest change came in the mountains category, with Horrach moving into the top of the rankings, 1 point ahead of Cardenas.






Stage classification

1 - Joaquin RODRIGUEZ once
2 - Aitor OSA
3 - ZABALLA
4 - JUFRE
5 - HORRACH
6 - ETXEBARRIA david
7 - LUNGHI
8 - Eladio JIMENEZ
9 - RASMUSSEN
10 - PEREZ
11 - CARDENAS
12 - OSA

General classification

1 - NOZAL
2 - GONZALEZ DE GALDEANO à 1'21"
3 - BELTRAN à 1' 34"
4 - FRIGO à 3' 07"
5 - HERAS à 3 ' 18"

Mountains

1÷ 127 HORRACH, Joan ESP MIL 91
2÷ 102 CARDENAS, Felix COL L2C 90
3÷ 86 OSA, Aitor ESP BAN 82
4÷ 48 PEREZ, Luis ESP COF 60
5÷ 53 JUFRE, Jos? ESP CRF 55
6÷ 28 RODRIGUEZ, Joaquin ESP ONE 45
7÷ 167 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 34
8÷ 99 ZABALLA, Constantino ESP KEL 34
9÷ 73 ETXEBARRIA, Unai VEN EUS 31
10÷ 26 NOZAL, Isidro ESP ONE 23

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Pla de Beret