The road to Madrid is always bumpy in the Vuelta a España. A day after Wednesday’s decisive stage to La Covatilla, Thursday’s four-climb 196.6km stage from Béjar to Avila was perfect for a breakaway. In fact, one stayed away with journeyman Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Valenciana-Kelme) hanging on for his team's fourth win of this Vuelta. But there was certainly no cease-fire among the favorites. While Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) was able to hold his 1:13 lead over Santi Pérez (Phonak), several challengers went on the attack on yet another blistering hot day. Fourth-place Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) tried his luck on the Cat. 1 Puerto de Serranillos at 133km and then Pérez shot away on the Cat. 2 Puerto Navalmoral with 174km to go. Heras was easily able to follow and finished safely in 11th at 1:24 back. “I wasn’t too worried about the attacks,” Heras shrugged. “There’s no real tactic in the coming days, just stay in the lead. The stage to Navacerrada will be important to try to gain more advantage for the time trial, but now we’ll just take it day by day.” There no major changes among the overall contenders and Heras remains in the driver’s seat, one day closer to his record-tying third Vuelta crown. Friday’s 142km, six-climb rollercoaster to Collada Villalba shouldn’t present too many problems for Liberty Seguros, which seems to be taking a page from the U.S. Postal Service playbook at the Tour de France. If Pérez or Valverde can’t narrow the margin to Heras in Saturday’s climbing finish to Navacerrada, Sunday’s final time trial in the streets of Madrid could be little more than a victory parade for Heras. In the Vuelta’s only flat time trial – the 40km race won by Tyler Hamilton in stage 8 – Valverde could only wrestle eight seconds out of Heras, who finished a strong 15th at 1:37 slower. Pérez, meanwhile, was riding with the idea of supporting Hamilton and Oscar Sevilla and didn’t push very hard, finishing 53rd at 3:29 back -- a difference that could prove critical in the final outcome. Early exit for Landis, Barry
The Vuelta lost some big names during the hot, windy day. Former Vuelta champion Aitor González (Fassa Bortolo) and Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile) didn’t start while U.S. Postal Service lost Floyd Landis and Michael Barry, with the one-time leader Landis abandoning and Barry not starting. Both Landis and Barry were feeling the ill-effects of a virus that seemed to be making the rounds at the team, leaving the team down to just six riders after David Zabriskie abandoned in Wednesday’s stage. Team staff said the combination of searing heat during the day and cool air conditioning in the team hotels at night caused several riders to get sick. “We’re all cooked,” said Victor Hugo Peña after the stage. “They had a little chest cold and so do I. But we’re all thinking about Madrid and we’re nearly finished with the race, so we should make it okay.” Non-threatening escape
Stage-winner Pascual Rodriguez worked himself into a group of 10 riders that slipped away 31km into the race. With no challengers in the break, the weary peloton was more than content to let them take charge. The break had five minutes on the bunch at 85km and held a three minute lead over the Cat. 1 Puerto de Serranillos. The break disintegrated coming up the Cat. Puerto de Navalmoral at 174km. Pascual Rodriguez and Parra chugged ahead of the stragglers and rolled into the rising finish to Avila to dispute the stage. Parra was clearly cooked and didn’t even have the energy to challenge the Spanish veteran. The final sprint lasted little more than 50 meters and Pascual Rodriguez earned a long-sought Vuelta victory and the fourth for Valenciana-Kelme in this Vuelta. “The last two kilometers I knew that I would be faster than Parra, so I wasn’t too worried about him. I was surprised that he didn’t at least try to attack, but he was pretty cooked,” Pascual Rodriguez. “The idea was to have me up the road in case Valverde was feeling strong and I could wait for him, but it’s important to try to win the stage as well.” With three days left in the Vuelta, time is running out for Pérez, Valverde or Mancebo to try anything. If things unfold in Friday’s rollercoaster to Collado Villalba much like they did on the road to Avila, Heras just has to make it up Navacerrada on Saturday with his lead intact to secure the overall title. Then Sunday’s time trial in Madrid won’t pack the dramatic punch as it has in year’s past. In 2001, Heras lost his third place spot to teammate Levi Leipheimer. It was even worse in 2002, when he lost the race to Aitor González. Last year, the climbing time trial on the penultimate stage worked to his favor. Heras is hoping that’s the story that repeats itself.