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54th Vuelta a Andalucía (Ruta Ciclista del Sol) - 2.1
Spain, February 17-21, 2008
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 4 - February 20: La Guardia de Jaén - Écija, 173.5km
Petacchi takes flight
By Gregor Brown
After winning in the GP Etruschi and yesterday's stage three, it appears that Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) has taken flight in this 2008 season thanks to the win in Vuelta a Andalucía stage four today. Petacchi successfully battled Borut Bozic (Cycle Collstrop) and Sebastian Siedler (Skil-Shimano) after 173.5 kilometres of racing from La Guardia de Jaén to Écija, and recorded career win number 145.
Spaniard Pablo Lastras (Caisse d'Epargne) continues to lead the overall, which he took at the end of yesterday's stage three from Clément L'Hottelerie (Skil-Shimano).
"Today, my team has truly worked well," said the 34 year-old Italian from La Spezia. Joining Petacchi in Andalucía are team-mates Christian Knees, Marco Velo, Igor Astarloa, Fabio Sabatini, Alberto Ongarato and Volodymyr Diudia.
"They managed the course from beginning to end while collaborating with the team of Caisse d'Epargne, who was working to protect the lead of Pablo Lastras."
The stage was marked by a five-man escape group, but its success was not to be thanks to the work of the German team.
"[My team-mates] always maintained control over the five escapees without giving them too much of a margin," Petacchi continued. "In the finale – a little past the red kite – Diudia, Astarloa and Knees closed on the attacks and then Sabatini, Ongarato and Velo took control up until 200 metres to go without problems."
"I feel really good to be able to give my team the third win of the year."
Petacchi's racing season may come to a halt if the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has its way. It is requesting its rider be suspended due to high-level of Salbutamol in a test result following stage 11 of last year's Giro d'Italia. CONI's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is set for April 2.
The five-day Spanish race concludes tomorrow with a 155.2 -kilometre stage from Antequera to Córdoba.
"It went exactly as I hoped and we could count on the help of the teams of the sprinters to neutralize the breakaways," noted the overall leader, Lastras, after the stage. "Tomorrow will not be an easy day and we will have to be very careful, but I hope to finish this race the best possible way, which means on the first step of the podium."
Results
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram 4.18.46 (40.113 km/h) 2 Borut Bozic (Slo) Cycle Collstrop 3 Sebastian Siedler (Ger) Skil-Shimano 4 Denis Flahaut (Fra) Saunier Duval - Scott 5 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep 6 Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 7 Marc De Maar (Ned) Rabobank 8 Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Cycle Collstrop 9 Aitor Perez Arrieta (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 10 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 11 Jaime Garcia Latorre (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 12 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep 13 Iban Mayoz (Spa) Karpin Galicia 14 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Karpin Galicia 15 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quickstep 16 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 17 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 18 Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank 19 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 20 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 21 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 22 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 23 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Silence - Lotto 24 Marco Velo (Ita) Team Milram 25 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano 26 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 27 Manuel Ortega Ocana (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 28 Leif Hoste (Bel) Silence - Lotto 29 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 30 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 31 Mario Aerts (Bel) Silence - Lotto 32 Dionisio Galparsoro Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 33 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 34 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 35 Clément Lhotellerie (Fra) Skil-Shimano 36 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 37 Arkaitz Duran Daroca (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 38 Igor Astarloa Ascasibar (Spa) Team Milram 39 Alberto Benitez Roman (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 40 Jesus Rosendo Prado (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 41 José Luis Carrasco Gamiz (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 42 Enrique Salgueiro (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 43 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Silence - Lotto 44 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 45 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 46 Yon Bru Pascal (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0.15 47 Floris Goesinnen (Ned) Skil-Shimano 48 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quickstep 49 Ignacio Sarabia Diaz (Mex) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 50 Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 0.20 51 Steffen Wesemann (Swi) Cycle Collstrop 0.21 52 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.23 53 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 54 Lucas Persson (Swe) Cycle Collstrop 55 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Team Milram 56 Roman Klimov (Rus) Katyusha 57 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 58 Jose Ruiz Sanchez (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 59 Josu Agirre Aseginolaza (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 60 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 61 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Karpin Galicia 62 Gustavo Dominguez Lemos (Spa) Karpin Galicia 63 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quickstep 64 Josu Mondelo (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 65 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Team Milram 0.37 66 Sergio Herrero Dominguez (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 0.46 67 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Skil-Shimano 0.48 68 Jesus Cobelo Fojo (Spa) Karpin Galicia 0.56 69 David Kopp (Ger) Cycle Collstrop 1.03 70 Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 1.09 71 José Antonio Lopez Gil (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 1.29 72 Marco Marcato (Ita) Cycle Collstrop 1.39 73 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Silence - Lotto 74 Volodymyr Diudia (Ukr) Team Milram DNF Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence - Lotto General Classification after Stage 4 1 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 16.43.55 2 Clément Lhotellerie (Fra) Skil-Shimano 0.48 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 1.32 4 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.36 5 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep 1.41 6 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1.45 7 Mario Aerts (Bel) Silence - Lotto 1.55 8 Iban Mayoz (Spa) Karpin Galicia 2.01 9 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 2.08 10 Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank 2.11 11 Arkaitz Duran Daroca (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 2.22 12 Aitor Perez Arrieta (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 2.25 13 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3.16 14 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Silence - Lotto 3.52 15 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Silence - Lotto 5.17 16 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Quickstep 5.27 17 Luis Pasamontes Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 18 Alberto Benitez Roman (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 19 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 20 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quickstep 5.39 21 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 6.00 22 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 6.26 23 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Karpin Galicia 6.53 24 Enrique Salgueiro (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 7.12 25 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 7.14 26 Marc De Maar (Ned) Rabobank 7.23 27 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Skil-Shimano 28 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 7.48 29 Igor Astarloa Ascasibar (Spa) Team Milram 8.19 30 José Luis Carrasco Gamiz (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 8.31 31 Manuel Ortega Ocana (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 32 José Antonio Lopez Gil (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 8.48 33 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Silence - Lotto 9.23 34 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 9.24 35 Jesus Rosendo Prado (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 9.34 36 Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 10.00 37 Sergio Herrero Dominguez (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 10.05 38 Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 10.25 39 Josu Mondelo (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 14.14 40 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 14.29 41 Jose Ruiz Sanchez (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 14.46 42 Aitor Galdos Alonso (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 20.12 43 Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Cycle Collstrop 20.13 44 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram 20.19 45 Dionisio Galparsoro Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 46 Leif Hoste (Bel) Silence - Lotto 20.43 47 Yon Bru Pascal (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 20.49 48 Marco Velo (Ita) Team Milram 21.00 49 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 21.31 50 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep 22.15 51 Borut Bozic (Slo) Cycle Collstrop 22.21 52 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 22.22 53 Steffen Wesemann (Swi) Cycle Collstrop 22.36 54 Albert Timmer (Ned) Skil-Shimano 22.38 55 Lucas Persson (Swe) Cycle Collstrop 56 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Karpin Galicia 57 Piet Rooijakkers (Ned) Skil-Shimano 23.38 58 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Team Milram 24.26 59 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur 24.27 60 Floris Goesinnen (Ned) Skil-Shimano 61 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Quickstep 24.35 62 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Team Milram 25.51 63 Volodymyr Diudia (Ukr) Team Milram 64 Marco Marcato (Ita) Cycle Collstrop 26.24 65 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Skil-Shimano 28.19 66 Sebastian Siedler (Ger) Skil-Shimano 28.47 67 Jaime Garcia Latorre (Spa) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 29.17 68 Denis Flahaut (Fra) Saunier Duval - Scott 29.26 69 Ignacio Sarabia Diaz (Mex) Extremadura-Gruppo Gallardo 31.31 70 Josu Agirre Aseginolaza (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 32.47 71 Gustavo Dominguez Lemos (Spa) Karpin Galicia 35.05 72 Jesus Cobelo Fojo (Spa) Karpin Galicia 36.12 73 Roman Klimov (Rus) Katyusha 39.59 74 David Kopp (Ger) Cycle Collstrop 42.21
