Vuelta a Espana

Stage 14 Results and Reports

Stage 14, Cangas de Onis--Cabarceno, 150 km:

  1. Biagio Conte (Italy) Scrigno-Blue Storm          4.48.14
  2. Orlando Rodrigues (Portugal, Banesto)     		 s.t.
  3. Laurent Dufaux (Switzerland) Lotus-Festina  	+1.57
  4. Laurent Jalabert (France) ONCE
  5. Alex Zulle (Switzerland) ONCE
  6. Tony Rominger (Switzerland) Mapei-GB
  7. Marcos Serrano (Spain) Kelme-Artiach
  8. Davide Rebellin (Italy) Team Polti
  9. Roberto Pistore (Italy) MG-Technogym
 10. Fernando Escartin (Spain) Kelme-Artiach   	      all s.t.  
 11. Mauro Gianetti (Switzerland) Team Polti      	+2:02
 12. Georg Totschnig (Austria) Team Polti         	+2:04
 13. Neil Stephens (Australia) ONCE
 14. Stefano Faustini (Italy) Aki-Gipiemme            both s.t.
 15. Andrea Peron (Italy) Motorola           		+2:12
 16. Pascal Chanteur (France) Petit Casino-c'est votre equipe
 17. Kai Hundertmark (Germany) Telekom
 18. Massimo Apollonio (Italy) Scrigno-Blue Strom       all s.t.
 19. Bobby Julich (USA) Motorola            		+2:18
 20. Vladislav Bobrik (Russia) Gewiss-Playbus        	 s.t.
..
 31. Melchor Mauri (Spa)                     		 2:29
 41. Peter Meinert (Den)                     		 2:32
 64. Bo Hamburger (Den)                      		 3:14
 65. Claus Moller (Den)                      		 3:14
 ..       
 98. Maximilian Sciandri (Gbr)               		 4:12
 ..     
101. Lars Johnsen (Nor)                      		 4:31
102. Stephen Hodge (Aus)                     		 4:38
 ..      
112. William Chann McRae (USA)               		 6:22

Overall classification:

  1. Zulle                      	      61.09.23
  2. Jalabert                   		+ 1:13
  3. Dufaux                       		+ 5:20
  4. Faustini                      		+ 6:33
  5. Pistore                          		  s.t.
  6. Melchor Mauri (Spain) ONCE        		+ 7:23
  7. Rebellin                                 	+ 7:28
  8. Totschnig                                	+ 8:09
  9. Rominger                                 	+ 8:41
  10. Stephen                                 	+ 8:53
  11. Julich                                	+ 9:51
  12. Peron                                  	+11:28
  13. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spain) ONCE         	+11:42
  14. Apollonio                              	+12:55
  15. Daniel Clavero (Spain) MX Onda         	+13:32
  16. Bobrik                                 	+13:43
  17. Maarten Den Bakker (Netherlands) TVM    	+14:27
  18. Escartin                               	+14:53
  19. Axel Merckx (Belgium) Motorola          	+15:01
  20. Serrano                         		  s.t.
  ..
  44. Kevin Livingston (USA)                  	 28:28
  ..     
  48. Bo Hamburger (Den)                      	 30:36
  ..    
  57. Maximilian Sciandri (Gbr)               	 34:48
  ..   
  74. Claus Moller (Den)                      	 50:36
  75. Stephen Hodge (Aus)                     	 51:40
  ..    
 107. William Chann McRae (USA)                1:14:57
  ..    
 123. Lars Johnsen (Nor)                       1:25:12

Stage 14 Reports

Biagio Conte of Italy won his second stage of the Tour of Spain on Saturday after sprinting away from Orlando Rodrigues at the end of a 100 km breakaway.

They were followed home by Alex Zuelle, who remained overall leader, and his ONCE team mate Laurent Jalabert. Again the pair left their rivals struggling in a mountain finish.

Zuelle heads Jalabert by just over a minute, with the next challenger a further four minutes back, according to unofficial timings.

``It's great to have won two stages,'' said Conte a first-year professional with the Scrigno team. His victory came two weeks after his opening stage triumph.

With neither Conte nor Rodrigues in contention overall, they were allowed to slip away from the pack just before the mid-point of the 150 km section.

What had been a lead of eight minutes was whittled down to under two at the line as Zuelle and Jalabert sought to gain extra time over their rivals.

The ONCE pair had destroyed the field at the end of Friday's stage and again left the pack strung out as they powered up an 18-degree slope towards the end of the stage in the Cabarceno National Park.

Swiss Laurent Dufaux maintained his outside hopes by managing to stay with Zuelle and Jalabert. He trails by five minutes 20 seconds.

The stage was run in the shadow of Miguel Indurain's decision to abandon the Tour on Friday.

``I agreed to race and I tried to do it as well as possible, but then if your health doesn't respond there's nothing you can do,'' said Indurain on Saturday.

The Spaniard, suffering from a heavy cold, said he might undergo medical tests after ``recharging the batteries'' with his wife and son in the resort town of Benidorm.

The five times Tour de France winner said that he had not yet made a decision about his future in cycling.

Indurain's withdrawal occupied the front pages of many Spanish newspapers.

``All of Spain became sad with the abandonment of Indurain,'' read a headline in Marca.

The race continues on Sunday with a 210 km stage between Cabarceno and Demanda.

More Reports

Italian Biagio Conte won the 202.6km 14th stage of the Tour of Spain from Cangas de Onis to the Cabarceno National Park on Saturday -- his second stage win of the race.

Alex Zulle of Switzerland retained the overall leader's yellow jersey, while his French teammate Laurent Jalabert retained second place.

Conte beat Portuguese rider Orlando Rodrigues, a teammate of Spaniard Miguel Indurain -- who was forced to retired from the Tour on Friday -- in a sprint finish.

Conte and Rodrigues escaped after 45km and built up a lead of over six minutes, and were never challenged by the peloton, who were tightly controlled by Zulle's ONCE team