Lastras again

Spaniard claims second stage win; Sevilla defends lead

COLLADO VILLALBA, SPAIN (Reuters) -- With iBanesto.com team leader Francisco Mancebo having abandoned the Tour of Spain, teammate Pablo Lastras is taking full advantage, grabbing his second stage win in three days of racing.

The Spaniard won stage 11 between Alcobendas and Collado Villalba on Wednesday, proving that his victory in Cordoba on Sunday was no flash in the pan.

After clocking three hours 55 minutes and 54 seconds for the 166.1 kilometer stage through the sierras west of Madrid, Lastras said Tuesday's rest day had made all the difference.

"Yesterday's rest day helped me recharge my batteries," the 26-year-old said. "I ate and slept a lot, and that meant I was strong for today."

Following a fast descent from the category one Navacerrada climb Lastras broke away with 5.5 kilometers to go, together with Haimar Zubeldia of Spain and Klaus Moller of Denmark.

The trio managed to fend off the peloton in the technical finale through the streets of Collado Villalba, and after Zubeldia led the final charge for the line, Lastras overtook the Euskaltel-Euskadi rider to win by more than a bike length.

A struggling Moller finished third, two seconds adrift, with the peloton of 17 riders, containing overall leader Oscar Sevilla and Kelme rival Aitor Gonzalez, nine seconds back.

Lastras, whose biggest win prior to his two victories in this year's Vuelta was a stage of the Giro last year, said: "I can't get over the high mountains, but after we reached the summit of Navacerrada I knew the battle between the overall favourites was over, so I seized my chance when Zubeldia and Moller attacked.

"After seeing my family and supporters from my village close to the summit of Navacerrada I thought I couldn't disappoint them."

There were no significant changes in the overall placings as Sevilla retained the yellow jersey, although Roberto Heras and fellow general classification contender Iban Mayo attacked on the the Navacerrada climb.

Dangerous effort

Mayo, fourth overall, managed to break away briefly twice, his most dangerous effort coming with 1,500 meters left to the summit, but Sevilla and Heras responded quickly.

After Italian Gilberto Simoni led the two dozen leaders over the summit of Navacerrada, reinforcing his hold on the climbers jersey, Lastras, Moller and Zubeldia broke away on the outskirts of Collado Villalba to dispute the stage win.

"It's true they tried to make life difficult for us, but the team managed to keep everything under control," Sevilla said afterwards.

Responding to media speculation that he and teammate Aitor Gonzalez could face problems by being so close together overall (one second separates them) Sevilla said: "Hopefully in the final week we are even further ahead of the rest on general classification than we are now so we can fight the overall victory out between us in the friendliest of ways.

"Everybody is saying this race will be decided on the Angliru climb (stage 15) but in fact this Tour of Spain is being hotly disputed every day, not just in the mountains," he added.

Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov, who was lying sixth overall prior to the stage, abandoned the race because of a fever.

 

Related information

Stories

2002 Tour of Spain Coverage

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.