Mountain biking

Beloki loses lead as Tour reaches Sierra Nevada

SIERRA NEVADA, Spain (Reuters) -- A flurry of late attacks saw Italian Guido Trentin of the Cofidis team take a solo win in the fifth stage of the Tour of Spain from El Ejido to the ski station of Sierra Nevada on Wednesday.

Mikel Zarrabeitia took over as race leader from fellow Spaniard and ONCE-Eroski teammate Joseba Beloki.

Trentin broke away with Spaniard Felix Garcia Casas with seven kilometers to go after a group of 14 riders had opened up a minimal advantage over the main pack.

The 27-year-old then launched an unmatchable charge for the line with less than 800 metres to go, clocking a time of five hours 45 minutes and 59 seconds for the 198-kilometer stage.

"This is the most important win of my career," Trentin said, "and I wish to dedicate it to my wife and first child, who is due to be born in November."

Trentin freely admitted that Big Mat's Garcia Casas had done the bulk of the work in the two-man drive for the line.

"I only attacked in the final kilometer because I could see Mikel Zarrabeitia was coming up fast and I didn't want to risk losing the stage to him," he explained.

Following Danilo Di Luca's stage two win at Aguilas and Mario Cipollini's back-to-back victories in Murcia and Roquetas de Mar, Trentin made it Italy's fourth consecutive stage win in the Tour of Spain.

If the Italians are dominating in terms of Vuelta stage victories, Zarrabeitia's third place, 10 seconds behind Trentin and just two behind Garcia Casas has enabled the veteran Spaniard both to save local pride and keep the golden jersey for ONCE-Eroski.

"I have been waiting for this moment since 1994," Zarrabeitia, who finished second that year in the Vuelta behind Swiss star Tony Rominger, said.

Pleasant reward

"I'm sure that one of my teammates, either Joseba or Igor (Gonzalez de Galdeano) will be in the lead this time tomorrow," he added. "My role as a team domestique was to control the little groups that formed towards the summit of the climb, and so this is an unexpected but pleasant reward."

The 35-kilometer climb of Sierra Nevada saw several moves, none of which contained the main favorites, briefly go clear but the smooth steady slopes leading to the ski station made it impossible for the climbers to split the peloton.

Shortly after Zarrabeitia's group finally gained a few meters, a powerful attack by favorite Oscar Sevilla close to the summit once more revealed that the Spanish climber is determined to improve on his second place last year.

The short distance remaining meant Sevilla was unable to catch Zarrabeitia, but the climber's late surge enabled the Kelme-Costa Blanca leader to gain a 50-second advantage over Spaniards Beloki, and the race's last two winners, Angel Casero and Roberto Heras.

Sevilla finally crossed the line in seventh place, 47 seconds back, with Beloki 16th at one minute 38 seconds, Heras 20th at 1:45 and Casero 21st at 1:49.

Although Trentin is now second, 16 seconds behind Zarrabeitia and German climber Jorg Jaksche is third at 35 seconds, Sevilla is now the first of the main favorites in fifth place, 52 seconds back. Beloki, who has led the race since the start, dropped to 10th overall.

Trentin's fellow Italian Paolo Savoldelli, the winner of the 2002 Giro D'Italia, did not start the stage after dislocating his collarbone in a crash late on stage four, while Spanish climber Roberto Laiseka, twice a mountain top stage winner in the Vuelta, was forced to abandon after a nasty crash on the approach to Sierra Nevada which left the veteran with deep gashes in his upper lip and right cheekbone.

 

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