Heras: ‘Race not over yet’
Roberto Heras enters final stretch of the Vuelta a España enjoying his largest lead ever in his three previous victories. Heras and his Liberty Seguros team blew apart the Vuelta in Sunday’s climbing stage, putting the three-time champion back into the driver’s seat with just five days left to go. “I will enter the final week with tranquility, confidence and, above all, humility,” Heras said during Monday’s rest day. “I have a lot of respect for my rivals and, just like we saw when I fell last week, the race is never over until you reach Madrid.” Heras entered Tuesday’s flat stage to Valladolid boasting a 4:30 lead to Denis Menchov, the Russian rider on Rabobank who finally cracked Sunday after holding the lead for a week. In his last two victories, Heras had to fight and scrape to win the race. In 2003, he had to attack Isidro Nozal in the final weekend to regain the lead while last year he had to hold off a surging Santi Pérez to win by less than one minute. Vande Velde: ‘Sastre would have won’
While Team CSC’s Carlos Sastre is confident he’ll be able to finish on the final podium, the team realized it missed an opportunity to have a chance to win the race after Sastre couldn’t follow in Sunday’s epic attack. Sastre cleared the summit of the penultimate climb with Menchov and Heras, but got gapped as Heras dropped wildly down the wet descent. Heras had two riders waiting at the bottom to bridge him up to the main break, where two more Liberty Seguros riders helped drive Heras home for the win. Sastre hit the bottom of the climb about 15 seconds back, but missed the move. He then had to chase hard alone with Carlos Garcia Quesada to try to drop the struggling Menchov. Sastre moved into third place at 4:50 back, just 20 seconds behind second-place Menchov, but it could have been more. “It’s too bad Carlos couldn’t stay with Heras on Sunday, because if he could have finished with the lead group, he could have won this Vuelta,” said Team CSC teammate Christian Vande Velde. “Carlos is such a better time trialist than Heras, I’m sure he could have made up the difference.” Sastre said he will still try, but admits his shot for the overall victory is all but done. “To win this Vuelta is very complicated, but there are still six stages to do something and if I have the chance, I am going to try,” Sastre said. “The podium is looking good, so I want to keep fighting to the end.” Menchov: ‘With stronger team, I could have won’
Denis Menchov was being philosophical about his sudden demise against the Liberty Seguros juggernaut. The Russian couldn’t hide his bitterness. “What happened was going to happen. You can’t win a grand tour without a strong team,” Menchov said. “I was the best rider and with a stronger team the victory wouldn’t have slipped out of my hands. But my team came here with few expectations. After winning one stage, we already fulfilled them.” Menchov, 27, won two stages and held the leader’s jersey for a week, so by his own measure, this Vuelta has been a success, but he couldn’t help but think what could have been. “I have to be satisfied. A good chance got away, but I’ve also demonstrated I can win a big tour,” he said. “The Vuelta is over and I will try to defend my second place and try to win the final time trial in Madrid. You learn from the errors, just as much me as well as the team.” Menchov’s demise torpedoed plans by the Dutch media to descend onto the Vuelta. Two Dutch television stations were planning on arriving in León for the final week of the Vuelta, but pulled the plug on the trip when Menchov took a dive in Sunday’s stage. Pereiro signs with Illes Balears
Spanish rider Oscar Pereiro has signed a two-year contract with Illes Balears, the team said on Tuesday. The 28-year-old Galician, who was released from his contract with Phonak, will join Alejandro Valverde, Vladimir Karpets and Pablo Lastras as one of the leaders of the team. Phonak team manager John Lelangue told riders at the beginning of this Vuelta they were free to leave the team if they could find a better offer. Phonak is fully funded for 2006, but its future as a team is unknown. Team owner Andy Rihs is unsure of continuing to sponsor the team past that date. So far, star riders Santiago Botero and Floyd Landis have both said they will honor their contracts through 2006. Valverde confirmed for world’s
Alejandro Valverde will lead the Spanish team at the world championships in Madrid later this month, the country's cycling federation confirmed on Tuesday. Valverde won the 10th stage of July's Tour de France but was forced to abandon the race days later with a knee problem and his slow recovery from the injury had led to doubts over his fitness. Valverde, 25, won the silver medal in the event in 2003 and was sixth in Italy last year when compatriot Oscar Freire notched up his third world title. Freire announced last month he would not defend his title because of an injury to his lower back.