Valverde: race wide open
The guardian article
Tour of Spain leader Alejandro Valverde says "no single rider is strong enough for anybody to be sure of winning it yet".
Five or six riders were still favourites for the overall victory, the Caisse D'Epargne-Iles Balears professional told a news conference on the race's first rest day.
"We've seen in the three mountain stages of the first week that nobody yet is dominating the race."
After taking the overall lead on Sunday on the mountain-top finish of the Alto de la Cobertoria, Valverde leads Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin by 27 seconds, with Spaniard Carlos Sastre lying third, 44 seconds behind.
"If I could sign on the dotted line today that I'd start the final time trial (on Sept. 16 near Madrid) with the same time differences, I would," Valverde added.
"That would mean I've got through the mountains in the third week well and was in a position to win."
Valverde said he regarded Kashechkin, and his Kazakh team mate Alexander Vinokourov -- the winner of back-to-back stages on Saturday and Sunday and fifth overall -- as his two most dangerous rivals.
"One day I climb better than them, the next day it's the other way round.
"Last year they were better than me in the time trials in other races, now I think we're on the same level."
"We don't have the kind of overall advantage that means we can relax," Valverde's team manager Eusebio Unzue said.
"Vinokourov is a rival who's won a lot in the past and he'll want to win this as well."
Valverde's team mate Oscar Pereiro of Spain, due to be declared the winner of the Tour de France following American Floyd Landis's positive test for the banned drug testosterone, confirmed in the same news conference that he wants to ride the world championships road race in Salzburg on Sept. 24.
"I'm in the provisional list and I want to take part although obviously I'll have to see how I get through the Tour of Spain first," Pereiro said.
Pereiro would be the first rider to win the Tour and take part in the world championships in the same year since Spaniard Miguel Indurain in 1995.
The Tour of Spain ends in Madrid on Sept. 17. Tuesday's stage is a hilly 199.3-km run from Aviles to Santillana del Mar.
Tour of Spain leader Alejandro Valverde says "no single rider is strong enough for anybody to be sure of winning it yet".
Five or six riders were still favourites for the overall victory, the Caisse D'Epargne-Iles Balears professional told a news conference on the race's first rest day.
"We've seen in the three mountain stages of the first week that nobody yet is dominating the race."
After taking the overall lead on Sunday on the mountain-top finish of the Alto de la Cobertoria, Valverde leads Kazakh Andrey Kashechkin by 27 seconds, with Spaniard Carlos Sastre lying third, 44 seconds behind.
"If I could sign on the dotted line today that I'd start the final time trial (on Sept. 16 near Madrid) with the same time differences, I would," Valverde added.
"That would mean I've got through the mountains in the third week well and was in a position to win."
Valverde said he regarded Kashechkin, and his Kazakh team mate Alexander Vinokourov -- the winner of back-to-back stages on Saturday and Sunday and fifth overall -- as his two most dangerous rivals.
"One day I climb better than them, the next day it's the other way round.
"Last year they were better than me in the time trials in other races, now I think we're on the same level."
"We don't have the kind of overall advantage that means we can relax," Valverde's team manager Eusebio Unzue said.
"Vinokourov is a rival who's won a lot in the past and he'll want to win this as well."
Valverde's team mate Oscar Pereiro of Spain, due to be declared the winner of the Tour de France following American Floyd Landis's positive test for the banned drug testosterone, confirmed in the same news conference that he wants to ride the world championships road race in Salzburg on Sept. 24.
"I'm in the provisional list and I want to take part although obviously I'll have to see how I get through the Tour of Spain first," Pereiro said.
Pereiro would be the first rider to win the Tour and take part in the world championships in the same year since Spaniard Miguel Indurain in 1995.
The Tour of Spain ends in Madrid on Sept. 17. Tuesday's stage is a hilly 199.3-km run from Aviles to Santillana del Mar.
posted by Marc at 1:12 PM
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