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61st Vuelta a España - GT
Spain, August 26-September 17, 2006
Main Page Results & report Stage Details Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 14 - September 9: Cuenca - Cuenca ITT, 33 km
Complete live report
Welcome back to our Live coverage of the Vuelta a España. Today's individual
time trial in Cuenca is the first in the race, as the event started with a team
time trial two weeks back in Malaga. The course is only 33.2 kilometres long,
but it includes the Alto del Castillo climb we saw the riders tackle already
yesterday - a cobblestone section 1.2 km-long and up to 10 percent steep.
11:30 CEST
Temperatures today are about 25°
Celsius at the start at 11.00am, but they will rise to 28° in the coming hours.
The sky is blue at the moment, but the weather forecast predicts more clouds
towards the end of the stage - no rain announced, fortunately.
11:34 CEST
The first rider to start was Cyril
Lemoine (Crédit Agricole) at 10.57am. No non-starter has been reported this
morning, so 158 riders are still taking on the challenge in Spain today. The
cyclists are currently starting with one-minute intervals; only the last 30
will have two minutes between them.
11:38 CEST
The first interesting rider to have
started was Fabian Cancellara (CSC) at 11.07. He is currently leading at the
first intermediate time check (km 9.9) with a time of 12.04 minutes. There is
a second time check at km 20.7 - on top of the Alto del Castillo - before the
riders reach the finish line after 33.2 kilometres.
11:43 CEST
Stuart O'Grady (Team CSC) is getting
ready in the start area; he is scheduled to depart at 11.50am.
11:48 CEST
Race leader Alejandro Valverde (Caisse
d'Epargne-Illes Balears), who will start last at 14.03, took good care to get
8 more seconds on his lead for the maillot oro yesterday. He now leads
Andrey Kashechkin (Astana Team) by 35 seconds - the Kazakh may not be a candidate
for victory today, but he could make up a few seconds on Valverde...
His teammate Alexandre Vinokourov, meanwhile, is considered one of the favourites
for the stage win.
11:49 CEST
Cancellara still leads at the second
time check with 27.02 minutes. He should achieve a first time of reference at
the finish.
11:54 CEST
The Swiss CSC rider has set a good
time at the finish in Cuenca: 40.54 minutes. Cyril Lemoine, today's first starter
is currently second, 2.15 behind Cancellara.
12:03 CEST
Matteo Tosatto (Quick Step-Innergetic)
is going strong today: he has now beaten Cancellara's split time at the first
check by 19 seconds.
12:15 CEST
CSC rider Stuart O’Grady was unsure
yesterday as to whether he would ride the time trial flat out or hold something
back. "I will probably decide what to do as I go off the start ramp," he told
Cyclingnews. "Fabian [Cancellara] is there and he will be up for the
win.
"I am feeling good at this point, although it feels like we
have been racing for two weeks. Everything is going pretty well, I can’t complain.
The mood is nice on the team - Carlos is still feeling good, the whole team
is behind him and we have been riding pretty strong when we have had to. The
last few days we have tried to keep back a little bit, though, to chill out."
We should be getting O'Grady's time soon.
12:18 CEST
Astana’s Aaron Kemps, meanwhile,
took it easy today. The first year-pro will have his 23rd birthday on Sunday
and said yesterday that he is trying to recover before then in the hope of doing
something on stage 15.
"I am starting to get tired, as you do. I
will have a sort of a rest day in the time trial. I will just take it easy as
possible there, but then hopefully I can have a go on stage 15," he said. He
finished 4.18 minutes behind Cancellara.
12:24 CEST
We also talked to David Millar (Saunier
Duval) yesterday and asked him what he expected for this time trial. "I am a
bit nervous about it, actually," he said. "That is something that I don’t usually
get. I still don’t know... I have felt really good this year and then gone badly
in time trials. I am lacking a little bit of confidence, mainly because I haven’t
done anything in a TT in over two years and I am still waiting to have a result.
That’s why I don’t want to predict anything.
"The thing is, I am
flying, so I won’t understand anything if I don’t get a result tomorrow. But
that could happen. We will have to wait and see how things go."
The
Scot will take on the course at 12.33.
12:27 CEST
Meanwhile, Tosatto lost a lot of
time on the climb and finished 31st behind Cancellara, 5.23 minutes down. Cancellara
is still leading.
12:31 CEST
Stuart O'Grady is going well: He's
only 28 seconds down of Cancellara at the second intermediate time check.
12:34 CEST
And O'Grady finishes second behind
the Swiss time trial specialist, 54 seconds behind. That's a decent performance,
especially with that Cat. 3 climb on the course.
Millar has started,
just after Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne).
12:48 CEST
One rider who won’t be digging in
too deep today is Davitamon-Lotto’s Chris Horner. He will be starting at 13:09.
"The time trial should be a fairly easy day for me," he told Cyclingnews
at the start. "I am going to take it handy. Most likely I wouldn’t win the thing
anyways and I am not going to move up on GC significantly. So there wouldn’t
be any reason to go hard." Horner is more focused on trying to get into the
right breakaway in the beginning of next week in search of a stage win.
12:55 CEST
Millar is going well: he is currently
second at the first time check, ten seconds behind Cancellara. We will see how
he does in the climb - that's not usually his specialty.
13:04 CEST
And David Millar holds his pace through
the Alto del Castillo - that's impressive! He lost only one more seconds on
Cancellara at the second time check; he's now 11 seconds down. He's got it going
today...
13:12 CEST
In the meantime, Laszlo Bodrogi (Credit
Agricole) has beaten O'Grady for the current second place. He finished 45 seconds
down of Cancellara. Looks like O'Grady ran out of juice in the last part of
the course, as Bodrogi was still behind him on top of the climb. Or maybe Bodrogi
is just the better descender...
Waiting for Millar to come in.
13:22 CEST
Millar has achieved a new best time:
40.54, the same time as Fabian Cancellara! That's great for the Scot!
13:25 CEST
Discovery Channel’s Stijn Devolder
will start the time trial 17th overall, 6.44 minutes behind race leader Alejandro
Valverde. He has been climbing strongly and is now hoping for a decent performance
in the race against the clock.
"The mountain stages went well, I
felt good," he told us prior to the start of stage 13. "The time trial may be
good for me. Last year I was seventh in the final time trial, so I will try
to do a top ten again."
Devolder is on the start ramp now. The countdown
is on for the GC men!
13:27 CEST
Before that last hour of racing gets
under way, let's have a look at what happened so far:
km 9.9
1 Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) 12.04 2 David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir) 0.10 3 Stuart O'Grady (Team CSC) 0.11 4 Sébastien Rosseler (Quick Step-Innergetic) 0.16 5 Laszlo Bodrogi (Credit Agricole) 0.22 6 Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas) 0.27 7 David George (Relax-Gam) 0.33 8 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Team CSC) 9 Mario De Sarraga (Relax-Gam) 0.34 10 Torsten Hiekmann (Gerolsteiner) 0.39
km 20.7
1 Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) 27.02 2 David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir) 0.11 3 Stuart O'Grady (Team CSC) 0.28 4 Laszlo Bodrogi (Credit Agricole) 0.37 5 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Team CSC) 0.46 6 Sébastien Rosseler (Quick Step-Innergetic) 0.58 7 David George (Relax-Gam) 1.22 8 Torsten Hiekmann (Gerolsteiner) 1.25 9 Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas) 1.36 10 Dmitriy Fofonov (Credit Agricole) 1.40
km 33.2 - Finish
1 David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir) 40.54 2 Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) 3 Laszlo Bodrogi (Credit Agricole) 0.45 4 Stuart O'Grady (Team CSC) 0.54 5 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Team CSC) 1.12 6 Sébastien Rosseler (Quick Step-Innergetic) 1.23 7 Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas) 2.01 8 David George (Relax-Gam) 2.06 9 Cyril Lemoine (Credit Agricole) 2.15 10 Torsten Hiekmann (Gerolsteiner) 2.22
13:37 CEST
Millar will be hoping for a podium
placing now... Valverde and Kashechkin, the last two to start, are rated today's
favourites for the victory.
13:39 CEST
Andrey Kashechkin (Astana) is optimistic
for today stage. He hopes to obtain "a good result and, even, take the leader's
jersey. I believe that it is a good route for me," he said, adding, "I don't
believe that there will be big gaps with Valverde."
13:47 CEST
We talked to Nicki Sorensen (Team
CSC) at the finish, who told us that "the course is really difficult. The roads
are sticky, and maybe the altitude has an effect as well [Cuenca is at 950 metres
above sea level - ed.]. I couldn't find a rhythm in the first half of the course,
but then I did a good descent."
13:49 CEST
Stijn Devolder seems to live up to
his hopes today, as he is currently fourth at the first time check, at 13 seconds
of Cancellara, who still led the race at that point.
14:03 CEST
Chris Horner, finally, did put on
some pressure on the pedals even though he wanted to spare his forces for next
week. "I always do, as soon as I see a guy in front of me I have to go for it,"
he told us at the finish. "I'm pretty happy with my time, actually. I could
have gone 30 seconds faster, but no more.
"The climb is just 500
metres too long for me. I blew on the soft cobbles at the top - they were actually
tougher than the ones in the first part of the climb. The descent is nice, not
too difficult. But I almost hit a spectator as I went into a curve on the inside,
I missed him by a foot or two."
14:06 CEST
Meanwhile, Devolder is having a really
good day: he's passed the second time check 9 seconds down of Cancellara, where
Millar had 11 seconds. Now it's up to his descending qualities and if he can
hold his pace towards the finish.
14:08 CEST
Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes
Balears) has started, so everybody is on the course now! The race leader is
grinding his teeth already in the first kilometres. He looks motivated...
14:11 CEST
Valverde is all in yellow except
for his red Pinarello TT bike. Sastre is using a high cadence, on a flat stretch
now, approaching the first intermediate time check.
14:12 CEST
Devolder gets in: 41.38 - that's
fourth place at the moment. Very good performance! He was screaming for water
as he crossed the line, and threw two bottles over and into himself right away.
He gave it all...
14:16 CEST
Kashechkin, meanwhile lost quite
some time in the first part of the course: 12.36 at the first time check - that's
22 seconds slower than Cancellara at that point. But he might be able to make
it up in the climb.
14:22 CEST
Devolder, after getting his breath
back, told us as we asked him if he was happy with his ride: "I'm not happy
unless I win. But I was riding very hard today. It might be easier for the guys
who are further down on GC because they haven't been riding this hard until
now. Plus, they started when it wasn't as hot as it is now."
We asked
him if he thought Millar's time could be the wining one today. "Well, it could
be, but it depends on what the others do. It's certainly a very good time!"
14:25 CEST
Meanwhile, Valverde has established
a new best time after 9.9 kilometres, followed by Kashechkin at 35 seconds.
Vinokourov is riding as best-placed at the moment: he passed the Alto del Castillo
at 26.57, a few seconds faster than Cancellara.
14:27 CEST
Kashechkin and Valverde are about
11 seconds apart as they are both on the climb now.
14:30 CEST
Valverde is speeding up the last
sections of the climb - over the soft cobbles... Kashechkin reaches the top
at 27.22 - 20 seconds slower than Cancellara. That won't be the winner's time.
14:32 CEST
But his teammate Vinokourov looks
like he has the winner's legs today... waiting for him at the finish now.
Valverde passed the second check after 27.07 minutes. Oh no, he has a derailleur
problem!
14:33 CEST
Valverde couldn't shift and had to
reach down to fix something. That will cost him some time - but he still has
16 seconds on Kashechkin.
14:35 CEST
Sastre is on the descent. He should
be limiting his losses today, but Vinokourov will make some time up on GC.
14:38 CEST
Millar still leads in the finish:
Vinokourov got in after 40.59 minutes! Five seconds slower than Millar - he
lost a total of 21 seconds on Millar on the last part of the course.
14:40 CEST
This is all very tight - will Millar
retain his lead in the end? Valverde led him by six seconds on top of the climb.
Gomez Marchante gets in: 42.09. No threat there.
14:43 CEST
Sastre is in the finish: 41.40 -
that's sixth place at the moment. Kashechkin is in back in town, trying to limit
his losses on GC. He will lose to Valverde today, with his teammate Vinokourov
gaining some time.
Here he comes: 41.20 for Kashechkin.
14:44 CEST
Valverde is speeding through the
1 km-mark. He still looks smooth, barely moving his upper body.
14:45 CEST
But it looks good for Millar! Millar
wins the TT as Valverde gets in after 41.07 - 8 seconds down on Vinokourov.
The Spaniard retains his jersey, as planned.
14:55 CEST
That's all from us for today - join
us again tomorrow for stage 15, which will start in Motilla del Palancar and
finish at the Ford factory in Almussafes. The 175 km-long stage is basically
flat or downhill. The race heads toward the south-east Valencian coast, where
the winding roads may present an opportunity for a break to escape, but it's
more likely to end in a bunch sprint.
Results
Provisional
1 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir 40.54 2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana Team 0.05 4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.13 5 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Team 0.26 6 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.44 7 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Credit Agricole 0.45 8 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 0.46 9 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC 0.54 10 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 1.03 General classification after stage 14 1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 54.23.28 2 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Team 0.48 3 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 1.25 4 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana Team 1.38 5 José Angel Gomez Marchante (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.06 6 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.49 7 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 4.00 8 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas 4.31 9 Manuel Beltran (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 5.03 10 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 7.02
Intermediate times
km 9.9 1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 12.04 2 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.10 3 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC 0.11 4 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.13 5 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quick Step-Innergetic 0.16 6 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Credit Agricole 0.22 7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana Team 0.24 8 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Liquigas 0.27 9 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 10 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.32 km 20.7 1 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana Team 26.57 2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 0.05 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.10 4 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.14 5 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.16 6 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Team 0.25 7 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 0.30 8 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC 0.33 9 José Angel Gomez Marchante (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.40 10 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Credit Agricole 0.42 km 33.2 - Finish 1 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir 40.54 2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 3 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana Team 0.05 4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 0.13 5 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Team 0.26 6 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.44 7 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Credit Agricole 0.45 8 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 0.46 9 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC 0.54 10 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears 1.03
