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Russian revolutions Smetanine rides away to Spanish stage winPosted: Saturday September 21, 2002 12:00 PMUpdated: Saturday September 21, 2002 1:23 PM GIJON, Spain (Reuters) -- Russian Serguei Smetanine finally broke the Spanish and Italian domination of this year's Tour of Spain when he sprinted to a lone victory on stage 14 from Gijon to Santander on Saturday. After six Spanish and seven Italian wins, the Jazztel-Costa Almeria rider clocked a time of four hours 17 minutes 23 seconds for the 190.2 kilometer stage to clinch the biggest win of his nine-year career and the most important of the season for his second division squad. Smetanine broke away with Spaniard Oscar Laguna, sixth on the previous stage to Santander, after 44 kilometers. The pair then built up an advantage of more than 11 minutes, but the Spaniard cracked on the third category climb of El Gobernador, leaving Smetanine to continue alone. "I am basically a sprinter but beating the top sprinters here like Mario Cipollini and Erik Zabel is extremely difficult," the 29-year-old, who lives in Soria, Spain, said after crossing the line one minute 57 seconds ahead of Laguna. "For that reason I have been looking for breaks, and the first one I tried to get in to, I succeeded in doing so, and then winning." The peloton, containing overall leader Oscar Sevilla, finished two minutes 39 seconds behind. A major crash behind the main bunch saw the race end for Spaniards Inigo Charreau, 35th placed Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano and Jon Odriozola. Sevilla, who stayed well clear of trouble to continue leading the general classification, afterwards denied that Sunday's mountain top finish on the special category Angliru would be decisive. "All the stages are decisive, from the team time trial in Valencia on the first day onwards," Sevilla, who has led the race for nine days by one second over Spanish team mate Aitor Gonzalez, said. The Kelme-Costa Blanca rider also said he agreed with several other riders in the peloton who argue that the Angliru finish is not ideal. "It's one thing what we ask for and another is what we actually get," he said.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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