Blanco wins 18th stage of Tour of Spain

LA COVATILLA, Spain (Reuters) -- Tour of Spain overall leader Roberto Heras increased his advantage over his closest pursuer Aitor Gonzalez by 37 seconds by finishing second behind Santiago Blanco on the 18th stage on Thursday.

Spaniard Blanco, who was born in nearby Puerto de Bejar, clocked a time of five hours four minutes 17 seconds to win the 193.7 kilometer stage between Salamanca and the mountain top finish of La Covatilla.

Heras, also locally born in the village of Bejar close to the foot of the Covatilla, came home 39 seconds behind Blanco with fellow Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha 47 seconds back in third.

Gonzalez was eighth, one minute 16 seconds behind Blanco and now trails Heras by 72 seconds.

A winner of a mountain top stage in the Vuelta at Super-Molina last year, ibanesto.com's Blanco dropped the last of the 20 riders that had initially accompanied him on a day-long break close to the summit of the second category Tornavacas climb, 43 kilometers from the line.

Blanco opened up an advantage of two minutes seven seconds by the summit of the next climb, the second category Tremedal, over his three closest pursuers, Flecha, Italian Piotr Caucchioli and another Spaniard, Jose Enrique Gutierrez.

The 28-year-old suffered badly on the final 9.5 kilometer ascent to Covatilla, but with his mother watching from a following race vehicle, and his numerous local supporters cheering him on, Blanco managed to reach the summit alone for Spain's eighth stage win of the race.

"If you don't attack you don't win. When I got to the Covatilla I was ready to die on the bicycle if need be, but I wasn't going to give up," Blanco said.

Kept going

"Knowing the climbs well played out in my favor. I knew that the Covatilla got easier towards the top and that helped me keep going.

"This is a wonderful day for the people of this region, with me winning the stage and Roberto still wearing the gold leader's jersey."

Heras broke away from the chasing group with five kilometers to go. All the main contenders had reached the foot of the final climb together, but then a prolonged acceleration by the US Postal rider quickly shredded the peloton to a bare dozen.

That was the signal for Heras to launch a first attack, but Spanish favorites Gonzalez, Oscar Sevilla, Joseba Beloki and Felix Garca Casas managed to claw their way back.

Change of pace

However, as the road steepened again with five kilometers remaining, Heras succeeded in shaking off his rivals with a second change of pace.

Already a winner on two mountain summit finishes in the Tour of Spain, Heras swiftly passed the remaining riders from the earlier attack, but was unable to catch the struggling Blanco.

The final 41 kilometer time trial in Madrid will give Gonzalez, a specialist in lone races against the clock the opportunity to challenge for the gold jersey and fourth placed Beloki to overtake Sevilla for third.

"We won't know who the winner of this race will be until Sunday," Heras said.

"I've done well, but I can't help being impressed by Gonzalez's resilience."

 

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