First Grand Tour for Vinokourov; another stage win for Zabel

It's been a rollercoaster 2006 for Alexandre Vinokourov but both his year and his career reached a high point in Madrid today when the 33 year old Kazakhstani rider won the Vuelta a España. The Astana rider stayed out of trouble and finished in the main bunch, wheeling across the line to the backslaps and congratulations of teammates and fellow professionals.

It was a proud moment for Vino and compatriot Andrey Kashechkin , who stood on the podium with Alejandro Valverde while hearing the Kazakh national anthem playing out to the large, appreciative crowd. Having previously finished third and fifth in the Tour de France, taking his first Grand Tour is a major achievement.

"It was a hard tour," he told Spanish Onda Cero radio afterwards. "A three week tour is always difficult. I am happy this year; things were alright. I felt better every day. The whole team did a good job, so for us it is a good victory.

"Valverde was a great rival for me. I chose good moments to attack him. Overall, I was very happy to ride the Vuelta after not riding the Tour [de France]. It is a revenge for me and it is also a victory for this team."

Valverde was gracious in defeat, despite his disappointment. "I was very close but he won, he was very strong. There was nothing I could do. It was a very nice Vuelta, very cheerful from beginning to end. It is also important that the media talked about cycling [rather than doping - ed.]. It was a great race with a super rhythm and I think the fans liked it."

Apart from Vinokourov, another rider in light blue took his own big victory under the clear skies of the Spanish capital. 36 year-old Erik Zabel showed he is by no means over the hill when he scooped his second stage win of the race, beating points classification victor Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) and Aurélien Clerc (Phonak Hearing Systems) in the frenzied dash to the line. The German rider salvaged an otherwise disappointing Vuelta for his squad, the Milram riders having lost Alessandro Petacchi when he came off worst in a fistfight with a team bus one week ago.

"I am very happy to win this," he said afterwards. "I had five second places in the Tour de France, one in Milan (Giro d'Italia) and two in Madrid, so this win means a lot for me.

"The bend before the finish was the most important part of this sprint, you had to be in the right place. I saw Horrillo go after the bend but my team made a big effort to get him back. In particular, Marco Velo was very impressive, and that helped me a lot."

Zabel confirmed that he will head the German team at the World's. "It is a big honour for me to lead the team. I think that the other riders will work very well and I hope we have a great race."

Alexandre Vinokourov of Astaná has won the last long individual time trial in this year's Vuelta a España, and not much can keep the Kazakh away from his first Grand Tour victory.

The Astaná rider, who celebrated his 33rd birthday, needed 33 minutes and 39 seconds to complete the course, and was six seconds faster than Euskaltel's Samuel Sanchez.

More importantly, Alejandro Valverde came in third at 19 seconds from Vinokourov and the latter's lead in the general classification is extended to 1'12"

Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi finished fourth and Vladimir Karpets completed the top five.

The battle for third place, between Andrey Kashechkin and Carlos Sastre, was more exciting than the one for first place.

Kashechkin was 21 seconds slower than Sastre, but still has a 23 seconds advantage in the general classification and it looks like two Astaná riders will be on the podium in Madrid on Sunday.

Vinokourov's golden ride

Alexandre Vinokourov swiped the gold jersey from Alejandro Valverde with a bold attack on the final climb near the summit of the Cat. 1 Monachil, ultimately finishing second to Tom Danielson on Wednesday's 17th stage.

The American Danielson (Discovery Channel) claimed his first victory in a Grand Tour, breaking out of a lead group on the Alto de Monachil and pipping Vino to the line after being caught 6 kilometres from the finish at Granada.

The duo finished one minutes and 10 seconds in front of third-place Samuel Sanchez and a full 1'39" in front of Alejandro Valverde's group, enough to give the Kazakh a nine second lead in the general classification and the gold jersey thanks to 12 bonus seconds.

Vinokourov's Astana team-mate Andrey Kashechkin launched an attack as a group of favourites, including Vino, Valverde and third-place overall Carlos Sastre, reached the start of the Monachil ascent 30-km from the finish line.

Angel Gomez Marchante, who now lies fifth in the GC, joined Kashechkin right away, before Vino stunned Valverde five kilometres into the climb and blew down the road.

"We saw Valverde was suffering and isolated from his team mates on the climb and I opened up the throttle," Vinokourov told reporters.

Valverde said he had suffered badly on the final climb.

"When Vinokourov went away on the descent, I didn't have the legs to follow. I'll try and get the jersey back tomorrow, on the Pandera," the 26-year-old said.

After reaching the summit 21-km from the finish line, Vino dropped Marchante and Kashechkin on a swift descent at speeds up to 72-km/hour and caught up to Danielson with 6-km left to ride.

The American and the Kazakh shared the work until the final sprint, when Danielson overtook Vinokourov near the line and took the uncontested victory.

"Today was a victory for our tactics on the climb with my team mates, and victory of brute strength and speed on the descent."

Vinokourov has already won two stages at this year's Vuelta, and is attempting to win his first Grand Tour after he was barred from racing in this year's Tour de France for a doping suspension against his Astana team.

There are three stages left to ride until the final stage arrives in Madrid, including Thursday's 18th stage with an uphill finish at the HC Sierra de la Pandera and Saturday's 27.5-km time trial.

"Really I don't think the Tour of Spain will be decided until after Saturday's final time trial near Madrid," Vino said.

Forster wins stage 18

Robert Forster of Germany won the 15th stage of the Spanish Vuelta cycling race Sunday, while Alejandro Valverde retained the overall lead.

The 28-year-old Gerolsteiner rider completed the race in four hours 24 minutes 55 seconds. Stuart O'Grady of Australia was second and Danilo Napolitano of Italy was third.

Valverde finished 36th in a mass of cyclists that were all given the same time as the winner.

Forster, who also won the final stage of the Giro d'Italia, took advantage of a punctured tire to Erik Zabel and Alessandro Petacchi being hemmed in on the final bend.

"I'll go to the next Tour de France in the hope of completing a hat trick," Forster said.

Monday is a rest day for the riders.

The 21-stage race ends Sept. 18 in Madrid.

Millar wins TT

Brit David Millar took stage 14 of the Vuelta Espana with a superb time trial in Cuenca on Saturday. Fabian Cancellara came second, with Alexandre Vinokourov third and Alejandro Valverde coming an excellent fourth to retain the yellow jersey.

The Saunier Duval rider blew the opposition away with a superb final third to set a time of 40:54, five seconds ahead of Cancellara of Team CSC.

Vinukourov's third place came after he set the fastest opening intermediates but he could not hold his pace to the finish.

Valverde's fourth place was unexpected, the Spaniard proving his mettle and surely favourite for a Vuelta victory after extending his overall lead over Andrey Kashechkin - who came fifth and had been expected to close on Valverde - from 35 to 48 seconds.

Carlos Sastre came 8th on the day to stay in third.

Home favourite wins stage 11

Spanish star Egoi Martinez took stage 11 of the Tour of Spain, finishing almost one minute ahead of countryman Inigo Landaluze.
The Discovery Channel rider dropped his rivals in the day's main breakaway - Landaluze and Volodymyr Gustov on the run into the finish at Burgos and came home to take the stage, although Alejandro Valverde Belmonte retains his race leader's gold jersey.

The day began without Russian Denis Menchov - the defending champion had no energy left to complete the race and decided to abandon.

Paulinho takes tenth stage in Vuelta a España

Portuguese Astaná rider Sergio Miguel Paulinho Moreira has won the tenth stage in the Vuelta a España, after forming part of a large breakaway. Alejandro Valverde Belmonte maintains his overall lead.

A group of 24 was formed after about thirty-five kilometers, with men like Iban MAyo, Michael Rasmussen, Davide Rebellin, Sergio Paulinho and Francisco Ventoso.

Eventually only fifteen were left in that group, which had a nine-minutes advantage at ninety kilometers from the finish.

From there on, the gap was slowly reduced but the peloton replied too late and it soon became clear that the leaders would stay ahead.

Particularly the climb up the third-category Alto del Mirador Ciudad gave the men up front new energy, and the winner of the stage would be in that group.

Several attacks were tried from that front group in the final kilometers, but it was Sergio Paulinho of Astaná to jump away at the right moment and take the victory.

Italian Davide Rebellin came in second, just ahead of Xavier Florencio. The peloton arrived at almost four minutes, but Alejandro Valverde had no reason to fear for his Golden Jersey.