1. Tom Steels (Bel, MAPEI) 3.52.52 (42.771 km/h) 2. Marcel Wuest (Ger, MX ONDA) 3. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita, POLTI) 4. Asier Guenetxea (Esp, EUSKADI) 5. Laurent Jalabert (Fra, ONCE) 6. Steffen Wesemann (Ger, TELEKOM) 7. Tristan Hoffman (HOL, TVM) 8. Biagio Conte (Ita, SCRIGNO) 9. Pascal Chanteur (Fra, PETIT CASINO) 10. Angel Edo (Esp, KELME) 11. Massimiliano Gentili (Ita, CANTINA TOLLO) 12. Luca Pavanello (Ita, AKI) 13. Max Sciandri (Ita, MOTOROLA) 14. Fabio Baldato (Ita, MG) . 32. Alex Zuelle (Sui, ONCE) all s.t. . 39. Laurent Dufaux (Sui, FESTINA) + 0.27 . 62. Georg Toschnig (AUT, POLTI) + 0.37 . 91. Miguel Indurain (Esp, BANESTO) s.t. . 99. Tony Rominger (Sui, MAPEI) s.t.
1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra, ONCE) 16.04.10 2. Fabio Baldato (Ita, MG) + 0.04 3. Giovanni Lombardi (Ita, POLTI) + 0.08 4. Juergen Werner (Ger, TELEKOM) + 0.19 5. Steffen Wesemann (Ger, TELEKOM) + 0.24 6. Stefano Faustini (Ita, AKI) 7. Roberto Pistore (Ita, MG) 8. Luca Pavanello (Ita, AKI) 9. Serguei Ouchakov (UKR, POLTI) all s.t. 10. Luca Colombo (Ita, AKI) + 0.30 11. Melchior Mauri (Esp, ONCE) 12. Valerio Tebaldi (Ita, FESTINA) 13. Alex Zuelle (Sui, ONCE) 14. Massimo Apollonio (Ita, SCRIGNO) all s.t . . 17. Laurent Dufaux (Sui, FESTINA) + 0.51 . . 28. Miguel Indurain (Esp, BANESTO) + 1.06 . . 41. Georg Totschnig (AUT, POLTI) + 1.07
Laurent Dufaux who was also involved in this incident could minimize the time lost with the help of his teammate Fabian Jeker.
But the stage was tarnished by controversy following a massive fall one kilometre from the finish line, which prevented five-times Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain from figuring among the final surge of sprinters.
Although the Spaniard did not come off his bike, the confusion caused by the accident, which occured soon after light rain began to fall, delayed him by 40 seconds.
"I worked hard throughout the stage in order to not lose a second, paying attention to wind-shadow tactics" said the recent Olympic time-trial winner.
"But when something like that happens, there is nothing you can do," he added, conscious of the advantage he now hands to overall leader Jalabert.
The Frenchman crossed the line fifth after being protected against the wind throughout the stage by his fellow ONCE teamates.
Jalabert finished fifth in a sprint finish behind Belgian rider Tom Steels and is now more than a minute ahead of Indurain.
The big Spaniard is the only other pre-race favourite left in contention after Tony Rominger and Fernando Escartin had dropped over seven minutes in Monday's stage.
``Let's see what happens later in the tough stages and the time-trials,'' said a philosophical Indurain afterwards. ``Losing time always hurts. Today was a struggle from the start with so much wind.''
With much of south-east Spain bracing itself for storms, the riders were lucky that the rain held off until the last 20 kms of the 160 km route from Albacete. In the conditions breakaways were never likely to prosper and no group was able to escape the pack for long.
A crash involving Spaniard Inigo Chaurreau brought down half a dozen riders two kms from the line and broke the pack in two, with Indurain and Jalabert's ONCE team mate Alex Zuelle left behind.
The Vuelta's technical jury decided that the fall had not created ``exceptional circumstances'' and that the finishing times would stand.
For the Mapei team, Steels' victory was a big boost after seeing Rominger's chances all but disappear.
``Today was important for us, especially after Monday. We needed a victory to lift morale,'' said Steels.
The Vuelta continues on Wednesday, with the weather still likely to be a factor in the 210 km stage from Murcia to Almeria.