It was a fast and exciting conclusion Tuesday into Zamora to one of the slowest and most tedious stages any grand tour has endured in years.

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) pipped Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) to win his second stage of this year’s Vuelta a España, but the 186.3km stage was marked by its sluggish speed and lackadaisical attitude of the peloton.

“This win will give me confidence ahead of Varese,” said Boonen, who won the worlds in 2005. “I am coming out of the Vuelta strong. I will pull out tomorrow, so to win again is just what I needed before heading to Italy. The truth is that I am feeling very strong.”

Along with victory in Córdoba, Boonen’s win in Zamora is his second of this year’s Vuelta. With Paolo Bettini taking two stages, Quick Step has won four out of 16 stages so far in the Spanish tour.

Riding with a bandage on his left knee, Alberto Contador (Astana) finished safely in the pack to retain his leader’s jersey a day after crashing, but he didn’t have to work up much of a sweat during the tedious run from Ponferrada to Zamora.

Vuelta 2008, stage 16: Leipheimer has a chat with director Johan Bruyneel.

Photo: Graham Watson

The peloton agreed to neutralize the first category climb to open the stage and took one hour to top the 15km climb.

It was only in the final kilometers into Zamora that the peloton revved things up and the stage finished more than one hour slower than the slowest of the projected times. The stage ended with an average speed of 34.8 kph.

“After some vertiginous mountain stages in Asturias, no one really had the motivation to attack. And later, the flat route and some crosswinds added up,” said Carlos Sastre, who remained third overall at 3:41 back. “It was five days on the bike, a long, hot stage, but the pace was welcomed. Today’s ‘vacation’ gave us a chance to catch our breath and reflect on the coming days.”

Spanish siesta

Tuesday’s snoozer across the bleak plains of northern Spain will provide plenty of fodder for those who think the Vuelta could be reduced from three weeks.

Two years ago, the Vuelta ditched its popular formula of shorter and more explosive stages that worked with success in favor of expanding the stage distances to be more in line with the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.

The result is what cycling fans suffered through Tuesday; an interminable, tiresome stage that could have easily been 50km shorter.

With a first category climb opening the stage before a never-ending run to Zamora, the peloton decided a day of light training was in order instead of some hard racing.

Race director Victor Cordero denied reports, however, that there was some sort of protest or planned strike within the peloton.

“It’s a joke that some say the rhythm of the race was some sort of plan,” Cordero said. “It’s simply that the took it with tranquility, with the hard climb right at the start of the stage. There wasn’t any sort of protest. Sometimes there are days like these.”

No one attacked and it took the peloton just about one hour to climb the pass.

Two-time world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) put out the word early to go slow up the Cat. 1 Alto del Acebo in the opening 15km. Word had it that the peloton was mad about the dangerous finishing circuit around Ponferrada yesterday and decided to ride at promenade speed.

“There are days we race at 50kph and nobody says anything. Today people needed to recover their strength. We are of flesh and bones. There wasn’t any sort of accord within the peloton,” said Juanma Garate (Quick Step), who was in the winning break into Ponferrada on Monday. “Today’s rhythm had nothing to do with the Alto del Lombillo, even though the truth is that it caught us by surprise.”

David Moncoutie (Cofidis) was first over the summit to all but secure the best climber’s jersey with five days to go to Madrid.

Some 10km over the summit, things appeared to liven up.

Jesús Rosenda Prado (Andalucia-CajaSur) broke the monotony and spun away coming off the summit. Walter Pedraza (Tinkoff) followed but no one else chased. Rosendo Prado started the day in 122nd place at 2:07:33 and Pedraza began in 88th at 1:30:00 out of first, not exactly GC threats.

Vuelta 2008, stage 16: The breakaway pair was not having nearly as much fun as the peloton.

Photo: Graham Watson

Despite the day’s breakaway, the average by second hour was a leisurely 28.3kph.

Quick Step drives it home

Quick Step actually started to chase once the gap pushed north of eight minutes. With 80km still to go, the break lingered at four minutes and the peloton seemed in no hurry to end the suffering.

With Zamora finally visible on the horizon, the pack picked up the chase and finally reeled in the two attackers with 7km to go. Pedraza waved to the TV camera just as he was engulfed by the pack.

Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) attacked with about 6km to go just a kilometer after the peloton finally ended the misery of a two-man breakaway that spent four hours alone off the front.

Vuelta 2008, stage 16: Milram, Quick Step and Silence Lotto did most of the chasing in the end.

Photo: Graham Watson

Quick Step reorganized the sprint with 4km to go when about a half-dozen riders were misdirected off course onto a frontage road after coming through a traffic circle.

They were safely redirected back onto the course as Paolo Bettini set up the sprint for Boonen with one kilometer to go.

Quick Step had its train working to perfection and Tornado Tom looks in fighting form for Varese.

Wednesday’s stage

Vuelta 2008, stage 16: Late-day shadows.

Photo: Graham Watson

The 63rd Vuelta continues Wednesday with the 148.2km 17th stage from Zamora to Valladolid.

Without one rated climb, crosswinds will be the main obstacle in the mostly flat run west to east across the central plateau. The shorter distance should liven up the racing a little bit in what’s another day well suited for the sprinters.

Valladolid was the finish line of the very first stage of the first Vuelta in 1935 and has since hosted 34 editions of the Spanish tour. The last time the Vuelta came to Valladolid was in 2005, with Bettini taking the flowers.