Hushovd sprints to victory in Vuelta a España

Norwegian Thor Hushovd of Crédit Agricole has finally won a stage in the Vuelta a España, after three second places. André Greipel and Erik Zabel were second and third. Danilo Di Luca maintains his overall lead.

Nice day for Di Luca

Di Luca won the 5th stage of the Vuelta today grabbing the golden jersey as well.
He beat Janez Brajkovic and Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin.
If you were a betting man you would have your money on either Sastre or Valverde the way they were contolling the race, but they finished 5th and 6th.
Valverde is now the clear favorite to win this year's Vuelta.

Zable can still do it

Erik Zabel sprinted his was to way to victory on stage 4 of the Vuelta proving he can still win big stages. It was his first big victory with Milram.
Hushovd finished second yet again but kept his golden jersey of tour leader

Ventoso shocks big names in Vuelta

ome rider Francisco Jose Ventoso of the Saunier Duval team won the longest stage of this year's Tour of Spain from Cordoba to Almendralejo on Monday as he upstaged the big-name sprinters.

Norway's Thor Hushovd finished second on the 219 kilometer leg to retain the overall leader's gold jersey after three stages of the three-week race.

Ventoso's teammate David Millar of Britain made a dramatic late burst inside the final kilometer but could not sustain the effort to hold off the pure sprinters.

But Ventoso made no mistake on a slightly uphill finish to win by a bike length from Hushovd with Australia's Stuart O'Grady in third.

Stage2 Bettini sprints his way to victory.

Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) pourtant plus connu pour ses qualités de rouleur que de finisseur, a remporté dimanche au sprint la deuxième étape du Tour d'Espagne entre Malaga et Cordoue. Il a devancé le Norvégien Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole), l'Italien Luca Paolini (Liquigas). Grâce aux bonifications, Hushovd s'est malgré tout emparé du maillot or de leader.

Bettini was a surprise sprint winner of Stage2 today. He beat other established sprinters like Hushovd (he managed to get the leader jersey) and Paolini.
Bettini was less surprised adding that he won sprints before.
Hushovd said his objective is to keep the golden jersey to Madrid. That would be a huge surprise. I don't think this will happen.
Tomorrow is the Vuelta longest stage.

A first for Sastre

Carlos Sastre led Team CSC over the line first to the take golden jersey after the first stage of the Tour of Spain, a team time trial, in Malaga on Saturday.

It was the first time he wears a leader jersey in a race.
Good job by team CSC.

Stage 1 Classification:


1 Team CSC (DEN) 07:36
2 Caisse D'Espargne - Illes Balears (SPA) +0:07
3 Team Milram (GER) +0:08
4 Discovery Channel (USA) +0:09
5 Team T-Mobile (GER) +0:11
6 Astana (KAZ) +0:12
7 Saunier Duval (SPA) +0:13
8 Credit Agricole (FRA) +0:13
9 Liquigas (ITA) +0:13
10 Quickstep (BEL) +0:15
11 Euskaltel-Euskadi (SPA) +0:18
12 Gerolsteiner (GER) +0:19
13 Lampre-Fondital (ITA) +0:21
14 Bouygues Telecom (FRA) +0:24
15 Davitamon-Lotto (BEL) +0:25
16 Phonak Hearing Systems (SUI) +0:27
17 AG2R (FRA) +0:27
18 Francaise des Jeux (FRA) +028
19 Cofidis (FRA) +0:30
20 Relax-GAM (SPA) +0:37

Brief preview: Vuelta a España stage 1

Cycling post previews Stage1

Story

daily peloton previews vuelta 2006 - Radobank

http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=9913

Bruyneel: It's all about Danielson at the Vuelta

Unlike last month's Tour de France, the Discovery Channel enters the Vuelta a España with a pre-designated leader, Disco will rely on Danielson.

Valverde with strong team to Vuelta a España

David Arroyo (Esp)
Vicente García Acosta (Esp)
Joan Horrach (Esp)
Vladimir Karpets (Rus)
Pablo Lastras (Esp)
Oscar Pereiro Sio (Esp)
Joaquín Rodríguez (Esp)
Alejandro Valverde (Esp)
Xabier Zandio (Esp)

Milram's squad

Daniel Becke (Ger)
Volodymyr Dyudya (Ukr)
Alberto Ongarato (Ita)
Alessandro Petacchi (Ita)
Enrico Poitschke (Ger)
Fabio Sacchi (Ita)
Sebastian Siedler (Ger)
Marco Velo (Ita)
Erik Zabel (Ger)

CSC 's squad

Sastre leads a strong squad:

Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor)
Lars Bak (Den)
Fabian Cancellara (Swi)
Inigo Cuesta (Esp)
Volodymyr Gustov (Ukr)
Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe)
Stuart O'Grady (Aus)
Carlos Sastre (Esp)
Nicki Sorensen (Den)

Quickstep's squad

Paolo Bettini (Ita)
Kevin De Weert (Bel)
Addy Engels (Ned)
Josè Antonio Garrido (Esp)
Kevin Hulsmans (Bel)
Sebastien Rosseler (Bel)
Matteo Tosatto (Ita)
Kevin Van Impe (Bel)
Davide Vigano (Ita)

Lampre's Lineup

Lampre line-up for the Tour of Spain: Matteo Carrara, Claudio Corioni, Enrico Franzoi, David Loosli, Marco Marzano, Ruggero Marzoli, Danilo Napolitano, Evgueni Petrov and Sylwester Szmyd.

They will be mainly going for stage wins.

Menchov downplays his chances

Russian rider Denis Menchov believes he will find it difficult to repeat his victory in the Tour of Spain because of his exertions during the Tour de France.

He picked Valverde, Mayo or Vino to win the vuelta

Millar to try to win a stage

David Millar couldn't score his dream comeback stage victory at the Tour de France, but he's hoping to at the upcoming Vuelta a España.

Millar survived the Tour in his first race back from a two-year racing ban for admitting to using the banned blood-booster EPO and enters the August 26 start of the Vuelta much stronger.

"I would like to win a stage, a road stage or a time trial, it doesn't matter," Millar told VeloNews at last weekend's Clásica San Sebastián. "I came out of the Tour feeling strong, stronger than I expected and I have recuperated well. I think the legs should go OK."

Sastre confirms Vuelta start

CSC leader Carlos Sastre has confirmed he will ride in the Vuelta, meaning he will have participated in all of the sport’s grand tours this season. Wow if he can manage a podium that's a very good achievement.