It’s spring in Basque Country and that means rainy, cool weather. Tuesday’s 180km second stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco followed that script as riders hit a string of short, but steep climbs in the rugged mountains of northern Spain.

Beat Zberg (Gerolsteiner) was fastest out of a group of 40 riders that cleared the day’s many hurdles to claim the stage victory ahead of Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel). Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) started his sprint too early and faded to fourth, but it was a good move as he slipped into the overall leader’s jersey.

The rollercoaster stage featured a tough combination of 10 Category 2 and 3 climbs. Venezuelan Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel) and Frenchman Jerome Pineau (La Boulangere) sped away during a 90km breakaway and built up a gap topping nine minutes, but Saeco and Kelme led the charge to check the move.

The final climbs were littered with attacks, including strong moves by defending champion Iban Mayo (Euskaltel), Tyler Hamilton (Phonak), Di Luca and Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile).

FullResults
44th Vuelta al Pais Vasco (SPA 2.HC), Stage 2, Bergara to Zalla, 180 kilometers
1. Beat Zberg (Swi), Gerolsteiner 4 hours, 44 minutes, 48 seconds
2. Samuel Sanchez (Sp), Euskaltel
3. Mauricio Ardila (Col), Chocolade Jacques
4. Danilo Di Luca (I), Saeco
5. MA Martin Perdiguero (Sp), Saunier Duval all same time
Overall after two stages
1. Danilo Di Luca (I), Saeco 8 hours, 12 minutes, 37 seconds
2. Davide Rebellin (I), Gerolsteiner
3. Aitor Osa (Sp), Illes Balears
4. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), CV-Kelme
5. Samuel Sanchez (Sp), Euskaltel all same time

Bouyer wins La Sarthe opener
French rider Franck Bouyer (La Boulangere) won the opening stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe in France on Tuesday. Bouyer held off Ronny Scholz (Gerolsteiner) in a two-up sprint to take the victory.Andrus Aug (Domina Vacanze) led the main bunch through at 21 seconds back. American Fred Rodriguez (Acqua & Sapone) came through sixth inthe stage.

52nd Circuit de la Sarthe (FRA 2.3), Stage 1, Saint Jean de Monts to Vallet, 181km
1. Franck Bouyer (F), La Boulangere 3h58:32
2. Ronny Scholz (G), Gerolsteiner st
3. Andrus Aug (Est), Domina Vacanze +0:21
4. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Lotto-Domo
5. Allan Davis (Aus), Liberty Seguros
6. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Acqua & Sapone st Stages
Stage 1, April 6: Saint Jean de Monts to Vallet, 181km
Stage 2, April 7: Vallet to Montreuil-Juigne, 198km
Stage 3, April 8: Montreuil-Juigne to Evron, 189km
Stage 4, April 9: Evron to Le Mans, 181km Teams
Acqua & Sapone
Ag2r
Alessio-Bianchi
Brioches La Boulangère
Crédit Agricole
Domina Vacanze
Euskaltel-Euskadi
FDJeux.com
Gerolsteiner
Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
Liberty Seguros
Lotto-Domo
Mr. Bookmaker-Palmans
RAGT Semences-MG Rover
T-Mobile
Vlaanderen-T Interim

Valverde lets legs do talking
Alejandro Valverde (CV-Kelme) lost the leader’s jersey in Tuesday’ssecond stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, but that was okay with him.

“I just didn’t have the legs today for the sprint,” he told SpanishTV following the stage. “It was a difficult stage and we will keep fightingfor the remainder of the week. This is an important race.”

Valverde won Monday’s opener and quickly responded to comments by formerKelme rider Jesus Manzano, whose doping revelations have rocked the Spanishcycling community.

“I wanted to do well in this stage because the team is going througha lot of trouble thanks to the statements of a certain gentleman," Valverdesaid Monday alluding to Manzano's detailed doping allegations within theKelme squad.

The runner-up world champion flatly denied Manzano’s allegations.

"When we heard about the statements, we were very surprised,” Valverdesaid. “But what this gentleman was saying is completely false and we'vealready started to see the consequences on him and I'm sure that at somepoint or another, everything will be solved.”

Manzano, who last week signed for Italian team Amore & Vita, testifiedMonday before the Spanish Superior Council for Sport about his chargesof widespread use of EPO and human growth hormones within the Kelme team.

Beloki troubles continue
2002 Tour de France runner-up Joseba Beloki (La Boulangere) pulledout of Monday’s opening stage of the Tour of the Basque Country reportedlysuffering from cramps.

It’s another setback for the Spanish rider, who crashed out of lastyear’s Tour and has since been slowed with nagging injuries this spring.Beloki finally made his season debut at last month’s Criterium International,but promptly withdrew.

Ullrich not sweating slow start
Jan Ullrich, racing in the Circuit de la Sarthe this week in France,says he’s not worried about what many are calling a slow start to the 2004season.

Compared to arch-rival Lance Armstrong, who won a time trial at theTour of the Algarve in February and finished third in the Criterium International last month, the T-Mobile rider still seems stuck in first gear.

But Ullrich told the French daily L’Equipe he’s not worried that hewon’t be in top shape for the season’s showdown at the Tour de France inJuly.

“Why should we follow the same paths before the Tour? I want to takemy time to make it back at my best level,” said the 1997 Tour winner. “Allmy training is based on the Tour so that I can start it at my very bestthis time. I'm relieved that I had no health problems in the winter, excepta sore throat. It is worth mentioning because it's unusual.”

Armstrong and Ullrich competed for the first time together since lastyear's Tour in the Tour of Murcia last month. The pair posed for photographsat the start of the race and then saw very little of each other.
“We said hello and shook hands but I'm not very exuberant in public.There's a real mutual respect but we remain opponents,” Ullrich said.

Museeuw schedules final press conference
Quick Step-Davitamon team officials sent out invitations to the cyclingpress this week for what will be Johan Museeuw’s final press conferenceas a professional. The venerable Belgian classics rider is retiring followingthe Scheldeprijs race April 14 and will face the press one final time asa rider.