Europeans launch strong challenge

SALAMANCA, Spain (Reuters) -- Four days after mistakenly celebrating a stage victory, Italian Angelo Furlan beat his idol to win stage 17 of the Tour of Spain on Wednesday.

Furlan raised his arms in celebration in Gijon, only to discover that there were two riders ahead of the peloton, but in Salamanca on Wednesday he held off German Erik Zabel in a bunch sprint to win the 145.6 kilometer stage from Benavente.

For Zabel it was another frustrating end to a stage, having had to settle for second place on three other occasions in this year's race, not to mention the runners-up spot in the Tour de France points classification this year.

Furlan, who only turned professional in 2001, clocked a time of two hours and 58 minutes for the stage, in which the peloton split on several occasions only to regroup for the final hour's racing.

Zabel led out the sprint but the 25-year-old Alessio rider soared past him in the final meters to take Italy's eighth stage win by more than a bike length. The German did, however, comfortably retain first place in the sprinters classification.

"Jan Svorada and other sprinters were fighting for Zabel's wheel but I managed to come past him at the end," Furlan said. "Zabel has always been my idol, so to beat him today was an incredible feeling."

Referring to his eagerness to celebrate at Gijon, he admitted that he had not realized there were two breakaways who had already finished when he crossed the line.

"I was concentrating so hard that I didn't realize my mistake until it was too late," he said.

Yet another high-speed stage, with an average speed of more than 49 kmh, the peloton was kept under control on the exposed, windy terrain by the Italian Fassa Bortolo squad working for their sprinter Alessandro Petaccchi.

After 90 kilometres on the road the ONCE-Eroski team split the peloton but overall race leader Spaniard Roberto Heras was not caught out and stayed firmly in touch to retain the gold jersey.

With the clock ticking down to the finish in Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Sunday, Heras is confident his U.S. Postal team will see him through Thursday's mountain top finish of Covatilla.

"My team is as strong as it should be, and I can be sure to count on their support tomorrow," Heras said. "It is a real pleasure to ride through my home area wearing the gold jersey."

Not everybody shares Heras's optimism. On Tuesday's first category climb of Pajares, all his team mates were dropped when rival squad Kelme-Costa Blanca accelerated hard, leaving him on his own.

Heras has already said he will need to take another minute out of his closest pursuer on the overall standings, Spaniard Aitor Gonzalez, on the Covatilla to be sure he could defend his gold jersey in the final time trial in Madrid.

 

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