Roberto Heras usually wins when the road turns uphill, but the three-time Vuelta a España champion won Sunday’s rainy epic thanks to a daring attack going downhill.

Heras punched the accelerator on the treacherous descent off the day’s penultimate climb with some 45km to go, opening a small gap on overnight leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank). With four Liberty Seguros teammates waiting up the road, that’s all it took to build the winning difference.

"We knew it would be hard today, more so with the rain," said Heras, who won in 4 hours, 53 minutes, 53 seconds. "There’s still another week to go, so we can’t celebrate yet."

Leaving Menchov isolated without teammates, the Liberty Seguros train hammered the pace over the final 30km. Heras then turned on the afterburners on the grueling final climb up the Puerto de Pájares with 5km to go, soloing in for victory.

Menchov had no answer for the assault and limped across the line 18th at 5:17 back.

"I had a bad day. I had some problems with my knee and I don’t like the cold, same as what happened to me last year in the Tour de France," said Menchov, who had led the race since Lloret de Mar. "That’s not making excuses. Heras was superior and you have to congratulate him."

Just like that, Heras turned the 2005 Vuelta upside down in one dramatic blow.

"The difference of this Vuelta has been the team. You don’t win a race alone, but with nine riders," said Heras, who finished 32 seconds ahead of Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel). "Today was a victory for the team and I dedicate this win to them."

With his second stage victory of this year’s Vuelta, Heras took a major step toward winning a record fourth crown with just six stages left to go in the 60th Vuelta.

Setting the stage

Teams were keen to put some of their men into a breakaway on the long, bumpy 191km course from Cangas de Onís to Pajares/Valgrande, and there were scores of attacks and counter-attacks as the peloton pushed toward the day’s first Cat. 3 climb at 55km.

Liberty Seguros wanted to take advantage of its superiority over Rabobank and quickly put its men on the march. Further underscoring the difference in firepower between the two squads, Jukka Vastaranta abandoned, leaving Menchov with only four teammates.

"We are the strongest team in the race," said Liberty Seguros director Manolo Saiz. "We have a week to use that our advantage, but today it’s crucial that we try to dislodge Menchov. We want to push the advantage we have."

Finally, a group stuck and Liberty put four riders into the day’s main group. Michele Scarponi, Joseba Beloki, Giampaolo Caruso and Angel Vicioso led the way with a huge group that also included Mauricio Ardila (Davitamon-Lotto); Francisco Lara (T-Mobile); Daniel Atienza (Cofidis); Alexandre Botcharov (Crédit Agricole); Mario Aerts (Davitamon-Lotto); Joaquin Rodriguez (Saunier Duval); Stijn Devolder and Benjamin Noval (Discovery Channel); Oscar Pereiro (Phonak); Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi); Adolfo Garcia Quesada and Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Comunidad Valenciana); Paolo Bettini (Quick Step); Julian Sanchez (Fassa Bortolo); Nicki Sorensen (CSC); Bram De Groot (Rabobank); and Mikel Pradera and José Vicente Garcia Acosta (Illes Balears).

Another chase group formed, including David Latasa and David Blanco (Comunidad Valenciana); David Cañada and Constantine Zaballa (Saunier Duval); Gorka González (Euskaltel); Juan Miguel Mercardo (Quick Step); Daniele Nardello (T-Mobile); Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner); Victor Hugo Peña (Phonak); Joan Horrach and Pablo Lastras (Illes Balears); Marcos Serrano (Liberty); Noval (who fell out of the front group to join this one); and Christian Vande Velde (CSC).

Riders kept dropping out, moving, counter-attacking and pulling out in what was a chaotic, uncontrolled day of racing. But Liberty was laying the groundwork to blow the race apart on the Cat. 1 Also de la Colladella at 137.6km. The 7km climb boasted an average grade of 6.7 percent, just the perfect terrain for Heras to attack.

The leading two groups fractured on the Colladella, with Liberty Seguros playing its cards perfectly. Heras upped the pace back in the main bunch, putting Menchov under heavy pressure and spitting Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) and other favorites out the back.

In a daring tactic, Heras continued to drive on the descent and had Caruso and Vicioso waiting for him on the backside of the climb. Menchov lost the wheel and the break was made. First it was a gap of a few seconds, then 15 seconds, and before the Russian knew what hit him, he lost 35 seconds by the time the bunch came off the climb.

"I didn’t know the descent that well, but I knew I had to take some risks," Heras said. "I knew I had some teammates up the road. Today was our last day to really try to shake Menchov. He followed really easy at Covadonga, but I had my doubts today. The legs start to feel heavy after two weeks of racing."

Riders were everywhere as Liberty put the hammer down to drive Heras to the front group. Beloki, Scarponi, Vicioso and Caruso powered Heras into the virtual lead at 160km.

By the time the leaders hit the base of the final climb, Menchov was completely isolated at 2:20 back, and his hopes of winning the Vuelta were diminishing with each succeeding kilometer.

Final climb through misery

The threat of rain finally became a reality as the peloton hit the first ramps of the 14km climb to the finish line. Under horrible conditions, with rain, cold, fog and wind, the Heras group soon dwindled to five: Heras, Scarponi, Lara, Pascual Rodríguez and Sánchez.

Menchov was left to fend for himself when Carlos Sastre (CSC) and Carlos García Quesada (Comunidad Valenciana) dropped the Russian on the final climb. Sastre was already making up ground on Mancebo and hoped to do some damage to Menchov and move higher in the GC.

Sastre eventually came through ninth at 3:47 back, not enough to leap-frog ahead of Menchov. Still, the two are separated now by just 20 seconds.

Despite the dramatic stage, the top five remained unchanged, barring the Heras-Menchov switch. Menchov fell to second at 4:30 back, followed by Sastre, who remained in third at 4:50. Mancebo remained fourth at 6:45 back and García Quesada fifth at 8:02.

Also hanging tough was Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel), who moved up to eighth overall at 12:05 after a hard day of racing. Danielson lost contact early, but caught Mancebo on the descent and eventually even passed Menchov on the final climb to finish 14th at 5:03 back.

Belgian Devolder posted a nice top 10 for Discovery at 4:09 back. CSC’s Vande Velde came through 40th at 12:42 and Michael Barry (Discovery) was 44th at 13:53.

Up the road, Scarponi took one final pull and Heras shot away with 5km to go. Sánchez tried to hang on, but there was no stopping Heras’s methodical dissection of the peloton.

His victory was complete as he rolled through the fog at the summit for the 10th Vuelta stage victory of his career.

"Tactically, things worked out great today," Heras said. "The team was the key to victory today. I just finished off their work."

With the win, Heras moved back into the leader’s jersey as well as the points and combined jerseys. Rodríguez widened his lead in the King of the Mountains competition as did Comunidad Valenciana in the team’s competition.

Stage two winner Leonardo Bertagnolli (Cofidis) were among four abandons on the day, leaving 141 riders in the peloton.

Monday’s rest day couldn’t come a moment too soon for the cold, wet and tired peloton. With the toughest mountain stages behind them, Liberty Seguros will surely control Heras’s commanding lead all the way to Madrid. From here on out, the race will be for leftovers.

Stage Results
1. Roberto Heras (Sp), Liberty Seguros, 4:53:53
2. Samuel Sanchez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 0:32
3. Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Sp), ECV, at 0:46
4. Michele Scarponi (I), Liberty Seguros, 2:28
5. Mauricio Ardila (Col), Davitamon-Lotto, 3:11
6. Carlos Garcia Quesada (Sp), ECV, 3:12
7. Mario Aerts (B), Davitamon-Lotto, 3:19
8. Oscar Pereiro (Sp), Phonak, 3:47
9. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 3:47
10. Stijn Devolder (B), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, 4:09
11. Ruben Plaza (Sp), ECV, 4:33
12. Oscar Sevilla (Sp), T-Mobile, 4:45
13. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, 4:47
14. Tom Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, 5:03
15. Daniel Atienza (Sp), Cofidis, 5:08
16. Julian Sanchez Pimienta (Sp), Fassa Bortolo, 5:09
17. Juan Miguel Mercado (Sp), Quickstep, 5:17
18. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 5:17
19. Francisco José Lara (Sp), T-Mobile, 5:17
20. Adolfo Garcia Quesada (Sp), ECV, 5:17


FullResults 

Overall
1. Roberto Heras (Sp), Liberty Seguros, 61:47:40
2. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 4:30
3. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 4:50
4. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, 6:45
5. Carlos Garcia Quesada (Sp), ECV, 8:02
6. Oscar Sevilla (Sp), T-Mobile, 11:16
7. Ruben Plaza (Sp), ECV, 11:30
8. Tom Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, 12:05
9. Juan Miguel Mercado (Sp), Quickstep, 13:32
10. Santos Gonzalez (Sp), Phonak, 14:20

FullResults 

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