Disaster can strike at any time in a bicycle race, just ask Roberto Heras.

The three-time Vuelta a España champion was rolling along safely tucked in the main bunch when suddenly someone clipped tires with less than 40km to go in Friday’s 12th stage, causing riders to drop like dominos all around.

Jakob Piil (CSC) dropped out with a concussion and Niels Scheuneman (Rabobank) broke his hand, but all eyes were on the frail Heras.

The Liberty Seguros rider fell hard on his left knee, leaving him with blood streaming down his leg as he gingerly remounted the bike. Nothing was broken, but Heras grimaced in pain as race doctors stapled shut the wound so Heras could continue in the race.

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) later powered to his fourth sprint victory of this year’s Vuelta in the 148km stage from Logroño to Burgos, but the real story was Heras.

“Unless this stops me from pedaling the bike, I will keep fighting to win this Vuelta,” Heras said. “This is a just a small setback. Otherwise I am fine.”

Business as usual
The relatively short stage pushed the peloton across the sun-baked flats of northern Spain, tracing the route of the Camino Santiago, a pilgrim’s trail along northern Spain that goes from the Pyrenees to Santiago Compostela in Spain’s northwest.

Gerrit Glomser (Gerolsteiner) saw that his Vuelta was over and didn’t take the start. Luis Pasamontes (Relax-Fuenlabrada) couldn’t wait for the day to begin and went on a suicide attack at 8km. His effort was doomed to failure against the collective interests of the sprinter’s teams.

Tom Boonen (Quick Step) wouldn’t have minded a victory before leaving the Vuelta – he’s set to depart sometime during Friday’s stage – but Petacchi was too strong again.

After Heras’s bad crash and Pasamontes was duly swept up, Fassa Bortolo set its train in full flight. Tom Steels (Davitamon-Lotto) tried to derail the inevitable with an early sprint, but Petacchi made this one look even easier.

The Italian relegated Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) to second, with Marco Zanotti (Liquigas) coming through third. Denis Menchov (Rabobank) came through with the main bunch to retain the overall lead.

“I almost crashed today too and I had to step out of my pedals and go off the front to help from going down,” said Petacchi, who won in Burgos for the third time of his career. “Today was the easiest sprint of all so far this Vuelta. I am feeling better as the race goes on.”

Unlike Boonen, Petacchi promises to stay in the race a little longer. At the earliest, he might last until the stage to Valladolid on Tuesday or perhaps make it all the way to Madrid.

For Petacchi, he’s got nothing more to prove in this Vuelta.

Heras disaster
Heras started the stage full of ganas, as the Spanish call the motivation to keep going. Despite being unable to dislodge Menchov during two climbing stages in the Pyrenees, Heras was looking forward to the difficult climbs waiting in northern Spain.

His crash replaced that optimism with uncertainty and frustration. Michele Scarponi, the tough Italian climber who’s been so helpful so far to Heras, also crashed hard on his back.

“We don’t know how his knee will react. The biggest fear is that is that it will swell up or become infected,” said Liberty Seguros sport director Manolo Saiz. “It was bad luck for Roberto.”

Heras crashed hard on his left knee, but he’s not sure if the cuts and scrapes were caused by hitting another bike, a crank or pedals, or simply on the asphalt. What he was left with was two cuts: one above his kneecap and another along the left side of the leg.

“I don’t know what caused the crash,” Heras said. “I couldn’t pedal at first and there was a lot of pain. I’ve had crashes before, but never when I was in second place of a three-week stage race.”

Race doctors riding in a medic car applied temporary stitches to Heras’s knee and later he was given 15 stitches to both cuts in the team bus immediately following the stage. He was not taken to a hospital because he’s otherwise not seriously injured.

Vuelta doctors later said the cuts were relatively superficial in nature and it appears there is no serious danger to his ligaments or muscles.

The crash caused some tension in the peloton as riders at the front kept applying pressure to reel in Pasamontes in time to set up the sprint. Liberty’s Marcos Serrano was seen at the front having sharp words with Fassa’s Fabio Baldato about the peloton’s continued high speed despite Heras’s crash.

“They didn’t slow down in the peloton and after whathappened with (Alejandro) Valverde last year, they should have waited for us,” Serrano said. “It took us a lot to get back to the peloton.”

Menchov and the other overall favorites were not involved in the mishap. The Russian enjoyed an otherwise easy day in the leader’s jersey.

“It’s sad what happened to Heras and I hope is okay, but these things happen,” said Menchov, who retained his 47 second lead over Heras. “I was lucky because it happened right beside me.”

It was bad luck for Heras and even worse for the Vuelta. If Heras is KO’d, it would take a big part of the drama out of the race going into this weekend’s showdown in the Picos de Europa.

Results- Stage 12
1. Alessandro Petacchi (I), Fassa Bortolo, 3:13:36
2. Erik Zabel (G), T-Mobile
3. Marco Zanotti (I), Liquigas-Bianchi
4. Tom Boonen (B), Quickstep
5. Heinrich Haussler (G), Gerolsteiner
6. Jimmy Casper (F), Cofidis
7. Julian Dean (NZl), Credit Agricole
8. Anthony Geslin (F), Bouygues Telecom
9. Arnaud Coyot (F), Cofidis
10. Tom Steels (B), Davitamon-Lotto

FullResults

Overall
1. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 48:21:11
2. Roberto Heras (Sp), Liberty Seguros, at 0:47
3. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, 1:53
4. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 1:57
5. Carlos Garcia Quesada (Sp), ECV, 3:31
6. Tom Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel, 5:03
7. Manuel Beltran (Sp), Discovery Channel, 5:09
8. Juan Miguel Mercado (Sp), Quickstep, 5:45
9. Ruben Plaza (Sp), ECV, 5:58
10. Michele Scarponi (I), Liberty Seguros, 6:37

FullResults

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