Tour de Spain 2002
The 57th Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain), a long-distance bicycle stage race and one of the three grand tours, was held from 7 September to 29 September 2002. It consisted of 21 stages covering a total of 2,957 km (1,837 mi), and was won by Aitor González of the Kelme-Costa Blanca cycling team.
Joseba Beloki, the second-place finisher of the 2002 Tour de France was part of the winning ONCE-Eroski team that won the opening team time trial of the race. Beloki held the lead until the fifth stage when he lost it to a teammate but on the sixth stage which was won by Roberto Heras. Beloki lost considerable time to other general classification contenders Óscar Sevilla, Aitor González and Heras. Sevilla took the leader’s jersey which he had worn for much of the previous edition of the Vuelta. After the first individual time trial, his teammate Aitor González was within one second of the jersey. On stage 15, González increased the pace of the group and put Sevilla in difficulty. Heras profited from this and attacked to take the stage win and the lead. Heras kept the lead until the final day when there was an individual time trial. Heras started the day with a lead of one minute and eight seconds over González but he lost this in the first 25 km of the time trial. González took the lead and won the Vuelta, Heras came second and Beloki recovered to eventually finish third overall. The Vuelta was also marked by three stage wins of Italian sprinter Mario Cipollini who retired from the race after his third stage win to prepare for the World Championships.
During stage 15 riders climbed the Alto de l’Angliru in rain. Team cars stalled on the steepest part, some unable to restart because their tires slipped on messages painted by fans. Riders were caught behind them and others had to ride with flat tires because mechanics could not reach them. David Millar crashed three times and protested by handing in his race number a metre from the line. The judges ruled he had not finished the stage and he left the race. He regretted his temper – he had been ninth – and apologised to his team.
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welcome back to our live coverage of the Taurus Paymar up to stage 10 now we stay in Cordoba but I have to tell you the weather has turned against the peloton because it’s raining quite heavily and conditions to say the least a little bit slippery for the first long individual time trial of this year’s race I’m Phil Liggett joined by Paul Sherwin now anybody can come into that glee a golden jersey tonight because there are so many riders Paul who can change it around and we don’t have a real time trial rider up there no none of the riders in the top end of the GC at the moment are good time try lists they’ll have to write to defend their position today but there are one or two excellent Time Trial it’s in the course and one man who’s lying a fair way down in the overall classification is David Miller the Scott he won the opening time trial last year at the world’s highest Bunya he finished second in the world time trial championships last year and I think he’s got a very good chance of winning today the big question mark though filmmaker Santiago Platero he’s a long way down in the overall classification and there’s a rumor circulating that he might actually be holding back a little bit because he doesn’t want to leave too much of his energy on the roads of the Vuelta a Espana because let’s not forget the world time trial Championships is coming up so it’ll be interesting to see how he rides today mine here we could say the same for David Miller of course he was second in the world title time trial last year I think David’s got his eye on a high finish well let’s have a look at the overall classification now because it’s been four seconds we’ve just goes to show the form that Christian Van de Velde has got towards the latter part of the season didn’t make the selection for the Tour de France team for US Postal Service and may well be looking to install himself as a big winner of the stage in the Grand Tour this man would like to win a Grand Tour francesco casa grande leader of the faster Waterlow team he’s 11 at the start of this morning a minute 45 back he’s not a great time try less but he’s actually riding and the overall classification right now in a position where he’s surrounded by other climbers like himself so he could very well improve today Phil sitting in 10th place oh well cut the small stage wins under his belt this year they set to – he kissed the girls won and in April he won the Tour of Taunton Trenton in Italy as well so he’s on Form it’s got three wins and would dearly like to be a little bit closer up I think he’s having to prove all the time he’s not getting a bit long in the tooth now Francesco he’s nearly 32 years of age in fact he is 32 years of age that happened just two days ago now he Sprint’s away looking for a good ride today but he’s never been one of the great time trial lesson in fact it was in a time trial against you Berta Simoni that he lost his lead in the Giro d’Italia here is Simoni right now Simoni for a man who is reputedly a very good climber has an excellent position here for the time trial Phil you see he’s got down very low in the middle of those handlebars he’s looking very compact right now he’s got a good pedaling style simonia with a good ride today could move himself up very much into the top 10 he’s currently lying 12th overall at the start of the day and he certainly looks as if he’s on fire and he’s a kind of man who excels in these very dramatic conduct conditions that we’re experiencing today he does like slippery roads and he’s a very skillful man on a biking his bike in bad conditions that can be worth seconds today in a time trial of this nature and here’s a man who’s having to recover from a very poor time by the team on day one in the team time trial where they lost one and a half minutes to once’ and as a result of that he’s still looking to pick up quite a bit of time they said the 29 kilometer checkpoint we’re looking at here now Tower I was getting into his rhythm just here and he continued to pick up all the way to the line which is at 36 now off kilometers we’re waiting for the arrival at this point now of Christian Van de Velde er who is quicker than Towler by a scant two seconds at the 90 share but what a good season he’s having as he seems to have all the time as were lucky now makes his start again and still looking for a big-time win in a stage race he’s run close in the Tour de France and he’s still looking for a big result and I’m not sure sure he’s got the legs at this time of the year we’ll find out today maybe well as difficult after finishing second in the Tour de France to Lance Armstrong to keep the form to try and win a Grand Tour at the end of the season Simoni getting out to the saddle every time he feels that his tempo is not as high as he’s wanting it right here in the individual time trial it still looks pretty good right now but this is a very difficult course and we’ve seen a lot of riders starting very quickly good to see that Christian van de Ville and David Miller have a joint fastest time at 9 kilometres into this event and I think we may well cause the surprise there because Christian van de Velde is an excellent time trial list and once he gets those time checks coming through Phil I think that we’ll be betting Colt hidden of a second that’s slower than Christian van de Velde that really is quite remarkable Yoshi bubu Lockheed Phil he knows how to ride a good time trial it’s his time trialing ability of the Tour de France that has managed to get him onto the podium on three separate occasions twice in third place and once up into second place so right now he too will be hoping to try and wipe away a fair proportion that one minute 43 deficit he had at the start of today’s stage sober lucky to the two Omaha answers shouting at him and he won’t be given a moment’s peace for the next 46 minutes of racing or soap to keep him going he’s rocking and rolling a bit on this client the Cayenne keep the big gears going and as you can hear the rain is starting again out in the course so they’re gonna be very careful on the way down at these very barren roads here but that is they’re an amazing result by David Miller and Christian van de velde are they all locked together exactly the same time at 9:00 exactly the same time at 19 kilometres we’re now looking at an Hill Casella at 19 he’s being much better this year for coffee teas how to see a Roberto Harris here he knows he needs a good time to hurl he doesn’t want too good a Time Trial because I don’t think at this date of the tour he wants that golden Jersey well he really wants to keep himself in contention for the moment and I think he’ll save an awful lot down to the the last week of this tour fortunately for Roberto Harris you see the rain has stopped but actually out on the course away from the city of Cordoba it is still raining so it is a difficult course for all of these riders to master right now and they still continue to come in as he’s probably David platter you know as Perez the man who Neely has these past two days are the second most sure whether he’s cracked a weather tower just went quicker he seemed to pick it up at every time check and got better and better and so he made a much slower start than a lot of the riders and then factor 47 15 is still good enough for second place as so far for Christian but Miller is gonna do out on the course and of course for this man ueshiba below key it’s very important to ride well today this man who is in the starting gate right now ight organs Ollie’s a winner of a stage out on the open road and maybe a man who could be wearing yellow tonight well that’s what I think is a younger team leader would like to be the case and I’m not too sure yet whether that’s going to be possible but we’ll see is it– organs Arliss makes his start gently like everybody they’re all got a lot of common sense today there’s a long way still to go in this years of welter Alexander VIN cause we have a sneaking suspicion we could then be looking at the man who will be taking the next golden jersey but I might be wrong of course but I think that vinokurov is on tremendous for me when a stage of the Tour Switzerland before he crashed out there is let’s all wish him happy birthday because he’s 29 today and what a lovely present it would be if he could get the golden jersey it’s been a pro since 1998 Alexander we know him extremely well we sort of followed his career we’ve been round the world with him as a young amateur when he used to race for Kazakhstan Ami we met him on many occasions he was speaking good English but now he’s riding for the German team but he seems have improved his German and lost a little bit of his English well he’s got a good chance because 14 seconds is of the difference between him and the man who leads the bike race at the moment Oscar severe I would say Alexander Vinokourov is a much better time try less than Oscar severe severe had a hard time in the time trials at the recent Tour de France but right now he is on Form and he’s leading the bike race and it might well just give him the extra motivation that he needs to put in a very fine time trial performance but vinokurov he realizes he’s got a very good opportunity here today to get the meanwhile back in the start house final adjustments for the man in the golden jersey oscar severe another important day in this young man’s life last year he lost the jersey by the end of the day and as a result lost of welter a Spaniard in Madrid a year ago not the time to tell him about that because today he wants him be a good enough ride to keep him as a player in this race I’m sure he will do that whether he is in yellow and the personally well I don’t think he’d be too disappointed if he does lose his lead he’s a question of time gaps that’s what he’ll worry about well I think he wants to go out and put in a good performance Phil is an exceptionally important individual time trial for this man right now because he knows if you today you keep the Jersey of course the technology that goes into developing the machines that these guys ride was also helped to improve him he looks very strong right now he’s currently lying fourth place in the overall classification 48 seconds down at the start of today and he would like to put some time between himself and Oscar severe back to the finishing line here now remember that we’ve got all of the riders out on the road now this is Fabian Dekker whose spin ting through next to finish he’s also showing his former steadily coming good he was placed yesterday second on the stage he has a reasonably high overall position just now as he now pushes on toward the line this will keep him probably improve his overall position so Fabian Decker of Switzerland and the Portuguese team MSS in with six best time line I think you’ll be quite happy with his time trial performance because this man has done the time trial performance of his life here is Roberto Harris right now in the finishing straight he searched little well up there Phil he’s gonna finish inside the top five it’s a very good ride he was holding David Miller for the first couple of time checks Miller’s had an inspired fish which has kept him on top of the leaderboard but her ass is still finishing in a very high position here of course his fight will go into the mountains and he’s still very much one of the top favorites to win this tour he won’t be too unhappy with that as he concedes only 34 seconds thus far 4706 for the US Postal man finishing straight and this will be the win well this is for the best time of the day there’s no doubt about that we all know very shortly to it to be for the golden jersey but here comes a tog on solace his second win in this year’s tour exactly one at minute quicker than David Miller magnificent cheer for him 45 minutes and 32 seconds for the 36 kilometers a brilliant ride by I tokens Ollie’s superbly motivated by the fact that he felt that this could be a two-pronged attack not only he win the stage but he’s trying to take the golden jersey off his teammate shoulders we haven’t seen very much of Alexander Vinokourov I would have expected that Oskar Sofia would have ported right now but severe is still three kilometres to go to the finishing line so I don’t think he can have done that we haven’t seen anything of vinegar awfully been switching around the two kalmo riders have been dicing for the golden jersey as the road opens up now for oscar severe news just over one and a half miles from the line his teammate is in with a time that no one will match here now and it’s up to this man if he sprints he might save the day to keep golden jersey on his shoulders I’m not sure he even wants to do that he might want to take some of the pressure away that’s what he said earlier now Paul what’s he got to do to keep his jersey if to finish inside at 46 minutes and 13 seconds the time to beat for the stage victory is 45 32 he was not going to do that at all but to keep the golden jersey on his shoulders he needs to finish inside of 46 13 at the last time check fill he was four seconds inside of that so it’s just what what we have to do right now is wait and see how he survives over these last few kilometres oh there’s been a cougar at VIN across the corner there so that’s an inspiration for him and it might keep him in gold because if he keeps aiming at Alexander then he might just hold his race lead by one or two seconds what a good finish this is to the time trial now and I think that’ll be two kilometers to go now that’s the two kilometer to go banner it should take him around about two minutes and thirty seconds at speeds like this it’s a bit technical coming into the last kilometer or so vinokurov has actually resisted fairly well because he lost an awful lot of his time in the first ten kilometers but he seems to improved over the last part of the course who minute timed up at the start it is now about 20 meters and he so interested in picking him up he’s racing him down here this might just be the that actually needs to keep the golden jersey on his shoulders Vinokourov was trying to ride to stay in the top five overall in this year’s tour of Spain right now and this carrot in front of Oscar Sevilla just may well have given him the extra seconds he needed there’s the time to beat on the finish line 45:32 he’s not going to beat that at all but if he gets onto the line in a time inside of 46 minutes and 13 seconds he will hold on to his jersey there is the flam rouge the red kite 1,000 meters to go now for oscar sevilla 4445 it is going to be desperately close Ville and he may well have pulled off the coup of his career well it’s a wonderful piece of riding by Oscar severe and goodness knows what’s happened to alexander vinokurov today on his 29th birthday because he can turn in a very good time tire when he wants to but it wasn’t to be today caught for two minutes by the race leader remember the time we are interested in our I think Oscars are probably interested in his 46 minutes and 13 seconds he must do that time or better to keep the overall lead he’s inside the last 800 meters the clock is running and it’s inside a minute well it’s gonna be unbelievable I think he may well have just been able to do that he’s improved a because kilometres it will all go down to the last few seconds right now he’s inside of the finishing straight he’s going to have to pick it up he’s losing a bit of time around these corners right now but he is now gone it’s a second on the stage but that’s not what’s important for us persevere what is more important right now is getting to the line inside of 46 13 and you know what filt he’s absolutely going to do it it’s gonna be the sprint of his life and he’s gonna fight it for his teammate for that golden jersey he knows and I think he’s done it and it can only have been the attraction of alexander vinokurov he’s gonna beat 46 13 to stay the golden boy of this race this is a superb finish turn around in a year for oscar Sabir who lost his golden jersey in the Tour a year ago he holds it by a second one the second cannot believe it that his app look at the face on in there as he comes across the line 46 12 he has done it it’s absolutely remarkable the comeback he made over the last ten kilometers he was losing that jersey to his teammate by about four seconds at one stage and there is confirmation of his second position there Alexander III tokens allas is the winner but Oscar severe in my calculations keeps on to that jersey bitin seconds ahead of severe burn Robert a David Miller there in third place balakian for per minute and one second behind and a thick that cheer indicating that the embrace need to stayed on the shoulders of Oscar severe but here’s the stage winner there he is itíll grands I see one stage A to B bouquet he’s now back on the winner’s rostrum here two days later the lucky is in the ascendancy as well but two minutes back in four and in fifth place after good time tile today is the basket and we start this 15th day without Fernando escorting Giovanni Lombardi Juan Manuel karate and Ludovic OSHA all for them victims of that big pile up yesterday haven’t started the race today it’s our big one they will of course with the long LaRue we still have that one second margin between teammates it’s been like that for five days I think we can safely say though that it will change the day welcome back I’m filling in of course along with Paul show and and Bob well hi again guys Paul let’s start first with Oscar severe very nervous man I would think yeah Phil I think everybody’s nervous at the start of a big mountain stage like the one we’re facing today and all of the riders wondering whether or not they’ve got the right gear ratios for this very difficult climb but Oscar severe does start the race has the leader albeit with a one-second advantage over his own teammate he’s only really been put into difficulty once so far in this year’s welter espana and that was by Roberto Harris now last time the climb came here Roberto Harris in fact beat Oscar sevilla by four and a half minutes but on that occasion Harris was in the Jersey it’s completely different today it is and harasses the man whose climb that angler fastest over the years he’ll need to do that again today Bob if he wants the race lead it’s absolutely like you said he is a he has got climbed up the hill faster than anybody in history they’ve only done it twice before cause a Maria humanist won the first time and [Music] and did a great climb the last time they went up on the climb in this well Tonya he took a lot of time out of Oscar Sevilla and he’s gonna need to use this hill as much as he can to get more time back because Sevilla has proven to be a much faster time Carlos so Harrah’s needs the angly Roo and the Cova TIA to come in a couple of days on stage 18 to really take as much time as possible out of Sevilla to get the jersey so he has a bit of a cushion before they get to the last time trial in Madrid it’s not just all about the final Hill today and Paulo tell us about the route in a moment we all now have a look at the overall classification as it was at the start of the day he say it is not an absolutely flat course to say the least on the way to the big mountain just take us through a pool where your rifle the race has been here this is the third time we’ve actually come to Langley Roo and this is the hardest approach that the race has ever had and it’s made a lot difficult by the fact that there are two very difficult first category clients before we get there it’s 170 kilometres of racing to the finishing line but look at this this is what the profile looks like a first country climate 80 kilometers at first Patrick at 154 but it’s a final climb up to the finish we will make all of the decisions and we’re looking now at the two survivors I suppose we could call them of a breakaway of some 24 riders although the remnants of the break is still clear of the peloton none of the wines ahead of the main field today are affecting the destiny yet of the race leaders at golden jersey this is a clear arrow at the back here eleven to miss years at a tour of Italy and he’s got to Fletcher with him on the ibanez though no wins for him and Ferraro here and fetcher have just got rid of Iker Flores who fell on the descent of the Puerto Malibu yo and has since been swept up by 14 chases the remnants of the 24 escape is soaked there’s a group of 15 and then the peloton and I must say Paul we’ve seen a tremendous display of strength by Cal May today despite the fact that on the way up the marae Bo they got rid of their strong man or was their stronger chips he was hoping about the time trial but I think that may well go out of the window but the rest of the team fill our superb ly solid this is the situation on the road at the moment the two leaders have a 2-minute 8 second advantage over the group in the middle and then it’s a further four point four minutes and 54 seconds back to the main field the main feel the last time we saw them it turned off just a little bit I think really because they realise the battle is not to try and catch the guys in front at the moment because none of these leaders up the road or in any way at all dangerous to the overall classification the man that Oscar severe is more worried about is Roberto Harrison he’s having a fairly armchair ride for the moment but we’ve still got three big climbs to come a second contra climb in about 22 in 10 kilometers time then another first category climb orbit just five kilometres in length but the showdown will come down on the 45-minute ascent of the Langley well the Fiat bad weather yet to hit us I’m delighted to say and so other riders it is chilly but it’s not bad he’s white at the Turner looks as though he’s got herself back up here on the way down so that means that the yellow jersey or the golden jersey is called in the dwelt ur has got all those men around in with one exception who’s in the breakaway and that’s manzano is out there in the front doing absolutely nothing on the tail and that was the team of the man who leads the king of the mountains competition to roberto Simoni and the last man to win here at the alto del angler ooh and this is where the riders have got to so far it’s a hundred and seventy six point seven kilometers today’s stage they’ve already gone over the mera bo they’ve gone over the tena bredda and now they’re on the approach finally to the outer decor Dowland 43 kilometers to go to the finish the gap to 49 these two men have over the chasing group of 15 seven minutes six and a half minutes to the that main peloton well I think they’re gonna get caught before the end how much time do you think they need if they can’t they’re not going to get that off this again sir I do believe you’re right about two good guys here not you important enough it’s just too long and too hard and I think that the group on the road behind these riders only two minutes 40 seconds 45 seconds down so have one of the riders in there who’s been conserving his energy we’ll see who it is when we get to the next two climbs but I think a rider from that group will win the stage and it’ll be a huge battle though for GC in the peloton behind so Moniz team has come to the front Super Casino need needs this race to be very hard he needs to have a hard tempo as a launchpad to get up the hill he’s in 14th place overall he might not be thinking about a high GC placing I know he’d like to improve on that but he might be thinking about trying to win the stage in order to do that he needs to close the gap way down to the second group on the road that’s about four minutes ahead wet and it’s going to be a dangerous descent before they ever get to the angly roof so everyone will want to be at the front of the next category one climb so that’ll make a very fast very competitive front the thing is is you can go down and then start the angly roof and there’s the psycho train and they’re really going they’re peddling quite hard so Simoni has obviously put his men on the front there he must be feeling good and the kill me guys will now be able to arrest a little bit it’s going to be a very competitive stage and the core doll might prove to be the pivotal moment in this race before we even get to the final climb when it was last time they came in 99 because that’s where there are several crashes on the descent because the race was held in weather conditions very similar to this right now obviously Alberta Simoni wants to get himself this stage he likes to win at the top of big mountains and this was really the thing that Kelman needed to try and spur off the pace making at the front end of the main field and just a quick look at the history of the Langley ruin fact it was only discovered back in 1998 and in those days it used to be a cattle track in the middle of Asturias used by the farmers to take the cows up during the summer months and it was only recently paid and decided there by the race organization to adopt it for a mountain top finish it really is a beast of a climb fill that a lot of riders are very worried about because of the fact that it has such steep gradient gradients that we very rarely see at this level of the sport in the Grand Tours now looking at the new style frame here from Team Telecom it’s a pillar ello bike that telecom right now as we go to break this time here comes the Honda trivia question for you place and there are now three men out front well it’s almost a one man out front and two chasers because osa is going down this mountain like a man possessed right now Bob and his teammate Fletcher won’t be chasing that hard at all I shouldn’t think because it will give him an advantage of getting to the bottom of the climb in first position it is a very sketchy descent this though isn’t it because the surface is not good it’s slightly broken up in parts and the fact that there’s been a few rain storms this afternoon would indicate that when we go into some of the shaded parts then certainly the road is still going to be damn I told Joe was third over the top of the out of the corner but he was only a fraction of a second behind the two leaders and immediately made the junction feel he attacked on the descent and we never saw him at all because they’ve been picking off the remnants of that breakaway one by one there’s about 38 riders now in the main field and that we haven’t noticed any of the top 15 riders or missing the move yet but certainly it’ll be every man for himself on the big climb just ahead the dinner plates will be forgotten I need be on the inside ring he be on the side servers I think because we’re looking at chain ring sizes of 30 32 the problem here nobody this is the big problem today with the fact that a lot of teams a lot of riders have changed the triple chain rings on the front it also means putting a complete different sprocket on the back doesn’t it Bob the jockeys have to be changed to yes everything has to be changing the whole drivetrain also your technique for shifting because you have three choices in the front so it makes it very difficult here we’re gonna see a replay hopefully we can see what happened it looks like the chain is jammed up there on the back sprockets and that’s what’s gonna happen when you change everything in the drivetrain and the riders aren’t used to it or perhaps they don’t get it exactly right plus the cable stretch throughout the day and the shifting disk goes straight into the garbage can I tore osa is letting all the chickens out of the coop in the mean time at the front of this bicycle race he bridged up to the two leaders just before the top of the client and then immediately dropped him on the descent I think when we get back down to the bottom of this valley on the angling route climb will see OSA by himself or at least with Fletcher and pity a dope climbing at speed the angly Roo now OSA has been sitting in the second group not doing any work while the he was not obliged to because his teammate has crashed look at this what looks very much as if met one of the riders has gone down there from fossa Portillo and I think that’s a grande that’s not wasn’t Casa Grande it we dislike the spectacular no in fact it looks very much like touch it village if ik who’s that gone down there but this is a terrible crash right down there one or two riders in the gutter at the side of the road here it might be Guido trim team from Kofi this let’s hope it’s not he’s in 8th place overall now 59 and now it is you’re absolutely right but those tanta has gone down and he is a high finisher or a high rider I see how the surface of the road there is just a little bit damp this is Bob and I were expecting to happen right now and this is the man who accosted the Davis in the overall classification yeah what a shame at contact has gone down there so this must have been pretty near the sharp end of that main field and we’ve got one of the Podesta riders over there too who is looking a little bit stunned at the moment and I think stages of the Vuelta a Espana he’s had very unfortunate luck throughout his complete career right now he seems to be ok he doesn’t seem to be injured just ER in fact it looked as if he was holding his shoulder there but he was talking to the team car the team management to say that he’s destroyed his bike probably and he needs a new machine to come forward so Pablo las Tres 15th overall has gone down as well and we’re gonna watch out for many riders coming through here well this is just exactly when the crash happened that looks like Santa’s Gonzales just going through there from Aquos Epona he was able to avoid it but these guys are going off this part of this mountain right now and not saving anything at all they realize how important it is you can see that Padgett pledge of ik from faso Portillo initially it looked as if it was number 81 and that has a grand singlet to his face fortunately Casa Grande is still up and riding and it looks as if further was another coffee dish attacking Ryder earlier is the other man down there he was really doing well and now he’s way behind but he looked ok as he pulled his bike back up to the surface the road here fill it looks as if there’s been a slight shower in the last few moments as well because that road looks very slick and slippery for the moment and there are huge gaps in that field right now and as we said exactly the same as back in 1999 there were an awful lot of crashes on this descent and in fact it was here in 1999 that Abraham Olano went down in one of those crashes and actually broke one of his ribs as did Fernando Escott [Music] we’re back with the Pacemakers now in today’s stage that they start the climb of the langu affleck and Susur a little bit behind the moment moments ago this happened David Miller looks as though he’s out of the tour Spade following the wheel tracks of eighth-place teammate tanta ninth place Miller looks here as though he will not be going on well that’s a sad sight it certainly is a lot of riders taking huge risks there right now and that really has been a devastating descent this for all of the riders meanwhile we go back to I tour OSA he’s the lone leader of the Vuelta ice pioneer today on stage 15 and he is a small advantage over the two chasers Fletcher and Pereira who I think now Phyllis put up the white flag but it’s absolute chaos on this road right now also flying up this climb right now he made a great move he was sitting on during the break away while Fletcher and Perry are up the road really making a hard tempo one of his teammates Fletcher was in that break so he didn’t have to do any work as they chased and so that gave him a chance to rest and when they got up to the top of the court all he rocket shipped across to the breakaway he’s dropped them now here is the front group from the peloton hurrah sitting comfortably there and it looks like the Sevilla has regained a little bit of his legs he’s moved up in the third position with his two teammates in the front osa in the meantime is at the front of the biker is flying up the rope looks like David Miller has been able to get back up on his bicycle and he’s gonna try to struggle onto the finish line of course he’ll lose out on his top hand placing on GC it was a hard crash it didn’t look like anything was broken as his legs and elbows and arms hips were all shredded but he’s had been able to get back up on his bike that’s a good sign he wants to finish this it’s a very honorable stage to finish and so it’s a great day of bike racing already and we’ve just gotten to the bottom fell out trees and Locke giving is a very happy approach to the top of the mountain but there is gives you some idea in this graphic here of the slope as we start at the bottom six kilometer climb right to the top 23.6% it really bites at the midway point when it kicks over that ridge of the mountain then it levels to a mere 14 and a half percent it makes its way up to the line but what we’ve noticed now is in this group of 22 riders one or two of the stars forced out by their crashes on the way down just the title of the longer new now still I taught osa is up at the front on the left of our picture but look at this now francesco casa grande he’s the man now who is starting to hurt the field he’s pushed the kill my riders out of the way he’s being marked by it– or gongs Ollie’s but the yellow jersey or the golden jersey is not feeling so good i don’t think he slaughtered in behind your Berto Simoni well oh so now has an advantage of forty nine seconds here and you get an idea to see just how difficult this climb is we’re getting to the very steep part of the climb right now francesco casa grande i said well i don’t want to take the pacemaking of kill me anymore i should go to the front and do it all myself you know what the one man who is looking very good here right now is it– organs all is second in the overall classification one second off the lead and the man who is suffering to hold on to that lead is oscar severe well as we continue the climb of this mountain move yet to kick into the big steep section believe it or not and that news reaching is that the top of the climb visibility is now down to ten meters and you can see from this shot as we look towards the summit just how load if you’ll know the crowd at the cloud ease and tyler also say look at this magnificent crowd here on this mountain and this is why the organization had brought the race here 37 seconds he continues to lose ground as they now get wiped out this is Fleck of being picked up now by the relentless pace of itok Gonzalez well I tokens Allah’s has decided to set the tempo himself right now the team that has done a superb job have been swept away as I told on solace assumes responsibility at the front end of this bike race they’re coming up there is Roberto Harris now into second position they’re a little bit further back as you’re Sheba burlock e francesco casa grande e taking up four position right now but the yellow jersey phil is around about ten meters off the back of this group he’s being left behind by the tempo of his own teammate well this fella Gonzales look at his face he is looking so so good at the moment her ass is marked Gonzalez he’s met made the right move here and they go little bit of a gap now they started to crack the rest of the field Casa clan they also in trouble this is now the Scrabble for the wheels and that is a superb peddling style rather reminiscent of one Lance or song by Gonzalez well I only hope that the helicopter can stay here because we are in for a huge battle here right now I tokens as look at the steepness in this corner right now the motorbike is having to move slightly further forward because of the steepness in these corners which is close to 25% bombs allas is still setting the tempo Harris is waiting for a few moments this in fact was the move that went a little while ago this is Susa he was in the leading break of 24 riders early this morning he will move high up in the overall standings as long as he can still get to the finish because let’s not forget in the past riders have lost five and six minutes on this final climb of the day I taught osa from Ibanez though comp still leads the bike race but I would say not by very much more than 35 seconds what a magnificent crowd Bob and look at the conditions they cheer the Tour of Spain up here now the cool mr. cool himself I tour Gonzalez could be changing that white for the golden jersey there is the erstwhile winner of this race analyst arrow has always done pretty well on this fly but there is the golden jersey and this climb is hurting Oscar Sevilla we thought he was in trouble on the previous climb we know he’s in trouble right now well he really has been put under a lot of difficulty let’s not forget last time the bike race came here he lost four and a half minutes to roberto harris but the man who is actually setting the race up perfectly for himself his number 125 Roberto Harris knows that and knows that he needs to get big-time right now one of the perfect pedaling actions that this man has developed over the years and he’s going clear right now look at the steepness in the corners he’s riding away from the man who is in second place in the overall classification while the yellow jersey number 121 is having a very tough time well this is a sad sight if you in the Kelm a squad this rider now to harass he’s setting off in pursuit of gold because he needs a minute and forty three seven million forty-one seconds at the summit if he’s going to take at the race lead off the new leader on the road I taught Gonzales and he’s looking like he’s a very very strong and those motorbikes really should be out of the way now well they can’t get him out of the way the road is so narrow and it’s absolutely blocked by the spectators who’ve turned up here there is I Toro sir now Roberto Harris is in first place out on the road right now Bob this is a great climb by the US Postal rider we’re looking at a true angel of the mountain in full flight and he’s peed perfectly beatified but this client Roberta Harris is flying up the hill now he’s put severe way back down the road and I toured Gonzalez is having a hard time matching him her ass is flying up the mountain now and this is exactly what he needs to do we need to take back a minute and 41 seconds on the I tur Gonzales he looks to be not pilling nearly as well look at good look at her Roscoe flying up this month he is the preeminent climber in the world today and he wants to show everybody in Spain just exactly what he’s made out of he is really cruising he’s got a long ways to go he’s got four or five kilometers and he’s gonna take huge time out of Sevilla we’ll just have to see if I throw Cazalas can match any of this grace that he is applying to the pedals right now well this great little climber started the day a minute and 42 seconds behind the – calmate boys gonzalez tried to take him apart is below key and he also is trying to get something out of this now because he’s lying fifth overall in the race we’re looking for eben mayo we haven’t seen him since there all of a sudden these boys started attacking one another well below key now is trying to pull himself back into this by trace that looks as if it might be angled Kucera but is absolute chaos here on the longer lou there’s no confusion at all about who’s leading the bike race right now Roberto Harris an absolutely superb style and just to remind ourselves the US Postal Service this morning decided to opt for a triple chain ring on their bicycles a 53 on the outside but more importantly 39 and 30 on the inside with a 25 to throw it and you could see that he’s stretching his advantage now it’s 20 seconds over balakian I told guns allas but Gonzales will not even try to pull him back right now Bob because he knows he can win it back in the time trial we mustn’t forget either that the man who’s ridden up this climb the fastest in history is none other than Roberto Harris that was back in 2000 when he rode up this climb in a time of 42 minutes and 15 seconds he seems to be about taking one second every 10 pedal strokes and so I’m sure many thousands of pedal strokes for the top of this mountain that add up to quite a bit I tour Gonzales needs to limit his losses all the way to the line and repair the Harris needs to stretched out as far as he’s gone that attack was as clean and pure as a bolt of lightning and has launched him up this mountain he was let out by Christian Van de Velde for the US Postal team and look down the mountain here is Sevilla really having a hard day today he’s carrying this jersey but this morning he’s felt the full weight of it and the Kelly team is well falling apart all over the slopes of this mountain five kilometers to go to the finish so he’s made his attack about six and a half kilometers from the summit and now he’s trying to drag out a minute and three quarters to get the golden jersey he’s got to make his move on this climb as I said early he needs to attack it early enough to get the big time gaps because this race won’t always be in his favor there’s one more big mountain top finish which people say is a real tough II like this one and then advantage might swing back to I tour gong solace so Gonzalez today might just try to limit his losses the golden jersey though is getting himself in all sorts of trouble me Klaus mola there and this looks like Manzano just peeping in below our picture but this rider he’s got to just steady himself not panic and hope that as the Mountaineers the top he can recover and regain a little bit of lost time but the clock is running on that five kilometers banner and already we’re still three miles to climb he’s a minute down well you can lose an awful lot of time on the slopes of this mountain and I think the record holder for losing time is angle cos arrow who lost himself four minutes in three kilometers this is superb pedaling style of this man and I have to say once again Johan Bruyneel has been a master tactician the team are obviously not great at the Vuelta a Espana but they haven’t needed to be they’ve waited for this moment they’ve looked after – Harris whenever need be and right now he is coming out of the pack and trying to stamp his authority on this by grace the big advantage right now though for ichael gonzales who is not a great climber he’s a good time try list and he can follow the pace making set by another very good time trial is your Sheba by Loki these two men may well just limit their losses today and keep themselves in contact it’s quite possible that I took on czar as new Shiva blocker will complete the top three in this race by the summit of this climb overall but lock he knows it too and he knows he’s got to find two minutes of Oscar Sevilla he’s not shaken Gonzalez who’ll always they’re buffing while he hangs in in second place on this tandem as they go up the mountain – Spanish riders it gained in the thick of it well in factor Yoshi Berber Loki could very well be climbing himself up into a podium position today he finished second overall in the Tour de France the last time a man finished on the podium in the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana was back in 1991 and that was Tony Romo go who finished first in the Vuelta and then second in the Tour de France but Gonzalez looks to me as if he was about to crack well he’s taken himself to the limit if he does crack he’s got himself to blame for that massive acceleration which blew the leaves apart 33 second is now the gap over these two chasing harass and there he goes as Paulo said he’s about to crack in his cracked and now the lock he is off in pursuit of her ass and if the lucky gets two minutes over I tour gong solace then we’re gonna have a head-to-head between below key and her ass as this race goes forward but the amazing thing about a climb like this is if you do go too hard and you do pop on this climb you use massive time oh you lose so much time because you’re loaded up with lactic acid you can barely pedal and it’s so steep and so difficult that you just can’t even barely move up the mountain while in the meantime you can see how well the lock he’s going I’m surprised to see that but look at Roberta Harris he’s now under the for case to go banner and he is not slowing down at all he keeps on increasing his lead Milwaukee’s been able to drop it–or Gonzalez will have to see the progress to see it looked as if Sevilla was starting to claw his way back again a little bit starting to get a little bit of a minute in the orange jersey back there I think that would be from the US cattle team and there’s a tour OSA he’s still trying to stay on the wheel of Sevilla who’s a clawing his way back slowly there’s a small group just in front of him he can stay with those guys he can continue to limit his losses and we’ll have to see what happens – icord gonzales who made the acceleration that opened this race up and that allowed her us to have a real springboard and now her ass is flying up the road being chased by the Loki now it’s 40 seconds he’s going ahead all the time each pedal stroke he increases his lead a little bit Gonzales trying to fight back to the wheel of the locky now well I tokens Allah’s is not panicked at all you know he felt himself going into the red zone a little bit there he didn’t want to stay on the wheel of your Sheba by Loki he allowed him to ride further forward he is actually dosing his effort I think quite perfectly here right now Phil he started the day with a minute and 41 seconds advantage over Roberto Harris and he knows he’s probably got a beating of him by around about a minute and a half in the final time trial there’s no need to panic for the moment there’s no need to cause yourself so much distress that you lose big time it’s about a minute and 20 seconds back to Oscar severe he is losing big time but again he has to dig deep into his courage to try and stay in contact he’s led this bike race for an awful long time he’s a minute 25 down on Roberto Harris right now and at the start of the day he led Harris by 142 yes so he is now 17 seconds away from losing his position to harass and that would mean it would be Gonzalez harass and then that severe in the overall classification but I think it’ll change even more than that before the top as we still watch the riders here on the move we’re just looking now at the rider from Oscar tell you Scotty Lopez demon yeah he’s had a very good climb so far and he’s coming up here at the breakaway the what’s left of it he’s been spread all over the mountain Mayo Gonzales a below key is the order they’re saying but this isn’t Mayo here this is actually Lopez Dimona who is coming up believe that even Mayo to Gonzalez and he is in fourth place overall same time as Bo Aki trying to get back a little bit of a slippage of gears there for her asana that will give you a lot of trouble when you’re climbing flat out and your bike starts to fall apart that’s the last thing you want francesco casa grande the leader of fast water law he was looking to get himself a good win at the summit of this mountain pass this afternoon and one man who is notable buys absences Gilberto Simoni the man who won here back in the year 2000 I think that is Simoni just around the corner there unless that is still a ban Mayo but Francesco has a grande is having a hard time he went to the front at the early part of this climb but nobody at all was able to resist the acceleration which came from this man a Roberto Harris 2 to 1 the leader of the US Postal Service third at the start of today and right now looking to try and win the Vuelta a Espana for the second time and this half-hour commercial-free brought you by Lincoln as we’re looking at the leader now on the climb Roberto Harris in fact for me Casa Grande has been a slow starter today but he’s warming to the situation because he is beginning to cut in to the riders ahead of him that is the order in reverse order if you like because Casa Grande is coming up on may oh that this is I tour Gonzales and below key is just in front and then we could go right to the leader and then we would find her ass the lucky is having an inspired day here and he’s now working his way back into this race while sensible riding by him as well over these last 10 days to put look at the time gap between them her ass is leading below key by 57 seconds Roberto Harris has done a very good job over the first 14 days of this bike race he sat in the pack he’s come out and produced the efforts when he’s needed to his teammates have been there when they’ve needed to be although they haven’t been as fantastic and dominant as they were in the Tour de France when they defended Lance Armstrong’s titled there for the fourth year in succession but Roberto Harris right now doesn’t need any teammates he’s just got a ride up this mountain as hard as possible you know he was absolutely superb in the month of June he won himself the Tour of Catalunya but when it came to the Tour de France he did everything for Lance Armstrong the reason he’s come here right now is to confirm that his win a couple of years ago was certainly no fluke well as we see the remnants of the leaderboard here and now come round these steep corners under three kilometres to go still a massive clara crowd as we started to get into this cloud bank which is reducing visibility down to around about 10 meters i trying to keep getting the team this is the neutral service car trying to get through here this is US postal in fact that’ll be your ham Brunell in the team car there he is panicking itching to get forward to his man at the front of the bike race but it is so difficult to do on roads as narrow as this there is a ban Mayo number 78 there he wears the orange jersey Oscar tell you Scottie Francesco Casa Grande but what a great performance really by the man just in front of the US Postal team car here I talk guns Allah’s second overall at the start of the day and he’s losing that position right now but he hasn’t yet lost it to the man who was first on the road Roberto Harris but clock counting again on the previous kilometer three kilometers to go as we’re heading up towards at three kilometer ban an hour and this is the gap double lucky as USP gets through to service whereas the gap is big enough for the race referees to say go forward and this is why their ass has got a minute and five seconds at three kilometres over below key well that’s a big gap over there over a Yoshi Berber lock evil lock he really is not a great climber on his own he’s riding a tempo like a Time Trial list right now the most important time check though Phil really as we look at below key who was fifth at the start of the day is the time difference between Roberto Harris and I tour gongs allas they were separated this morning by a minute 41 and if Harris finishes in the minute 42 at the end of this mountaintop finish he will be the new golden jersey this man though Yoshi bubu locking is doing a great ride but we’re now on the very steep part of the climb we are looking at gradients of 18% right now which is almost unheard of you can see how Roberto Harris is struggling to try and get as much time as possible this is his terrain this is the terrain where he as a climber can access a minute and 50 seconds is the time to the yellow jersey there the man who started the day in gold Oscar severe so he has disappeared from the top of the leaderboard right now and it is going to be a decision between Roberto Harris and I taug on solace at the end of the day which was your money going Bob I think the stage is going to go to harass obviously I think the Jersey will stay on the shoulders of it–or Gonzalez oh and there’s her Aussie struggling a little bit at this point he’s got about two and a half days to go it’s only 43 seconds down to a below Keys group there he needs a bit more time I think in Sevilla is further down the road they’re saying that’s 107 right now but I think it’s gone up to a little bit more than that Roberta harrah’s he’s a very reserved he’s a modest man he’s shy he’s a like almost a recluse but when he lets his legs do the talking he goes flying up the mountain and he turns into an entirely different person he’s attacking he’s aggressive he’s impetuous on the clouds and then we’re gonna see how far how fast he can get up this mountain and at what speed there’s it–or gonzales it looks like still struggling to try to limit his damages to that man Roberta harass lots of fans out on the road they’re going wild and they’re seeing a real exploit of climbing prowess by this man probably the best climber in the world today well he needs to be just over 17% on the climb as he is just at this minute he’s sitting in the saddle because frankly cannot get out of the saddle on gradient at this level the chances are he’d lift his front wheel off the road and tip off his bike this is a very difficult part of the climb here it’s just over 17% it kicks up and for a fraction of 23% but the average gradient at this part is 17 as he gets a little closer to the summit fill it will level off to 12 and a half percent thank you very much but this is what this climb is all about this is a cattle track as we look here some of the guys are slightly over geared which is why they’re zigzagging over the road at the moment just a reminder of the gear that Roberto Harris is using at the moment with a one minute advantage over your Sheba bull Aki he’s using a 30 tooth inside chain ring with a 25 to throw at the back that is what you have on a mountain bike well here comes bolo key and he’s inching his way closer to Roberto Harris he’s knocked off five seconds in this kilometer and he looks to be moving that little bit better than her ass right now and he could well be fighting his way back into this race for a victory at the summit well it really is a whole question of technique and tactics at the moment because all of the teams were trying to decide what kind of gear ratios to use on say decided to only user to chain rings on their bikes and on Yoshi Berber Loki should have a 39 to chain ring on the inside and a 29 to throw it at the back Bob well it looks like he’s lose using every inch of that small gear and and this is an incredible spectacle I think the weather has made things even more dramatic it caused some riders to come off on the descent Miller and pentene who were both in the top 10 on GC the other riders are fighting it out we haven’t seen Oscar Sevilla for a while it looks like a tour gonzales is just clawing his way back up to the low key there and these two riders will be able to cooperate to the finish line we’ll see just how well her Ross is going here he is at the front of the race he’s going quite well he’s dancing on the pedals he’s got a couple of kilometers left to do we’ll see how much time he can get it’s one minute over blocking who’s down the road if it that’s gonna increase now it’s because he’s on the more gradual slope and the other riders are still on the very very steep part of this climb a bit sab it’s a climb for these riders he’s taking the wide berth on the road to try to avoid the steepness but there’s a massive massive crowd despite the weather at the top of this mountain pass were going back to the golden jersey who is still in desperate trouble here as the mountain kicks in at the steepest point oscar severe is still in trouble he conceded seven seconds on this climb once as he now continues a little bit way down the mountain he’s lost his race lead for sure today but it’s a question of whether I tour Gonz Ollis gets it or on Aburto her ass her ass is desperately close to taking the golden jersey the question we’ll have to ask then is if the team is up to keeping him in it well that’s gonna be the difficult thing right now he’s inside of two kilometers to go the man who is second on the road right now your Sheba below key the man who is hoping to be in the golden jersey tonight has disappeared slightly because this is francesco casa grande riding into the bike race he is a great bike rider over the past he’s always tried to get himself high up in the stop 3:57 down and he could find himself climbing into the top five right because a lot of riders are absolutely crumbling over the last five kilometers of this stage Casa Grande without a contract at the end of the year and he’s trying to sign with some of the Spanish teams actually so I’m sure he’d love to impress them and today is a day to impress the whole world well he looks good as we go round they still asleep Ben not long ago her ass we’re on it that’s balakian front casa grande now looking for the effort that will catch up with you she bubble lucky that’ll be two kilometres from the summit they’re passing on the right now and there’s nothing between these a minute 15 now is the gap so in fact her asses nudged out another 10 seconds over below key that’s gonna be enough right now because we need to count the time back to eight or ganzel is 141 he’s on the slightly easier part of the course and I hate to say that a climb is easy because this is not an easy climb it’s a 12 percent gradient at the moment and that would be fine what they’ve already gone over 25 percent in some parts of this climb here right now he’s got the pedaling action going again hasn’t he Bobby’s got himself back up to that high cadence which seems to have been something they’ve trained an awful lot at there’s Christian van de Ville going through that tour with the cars and this is that big worry now is the cars blocking the road because of the rain is causing the cars to lose all traction and they can’t get going again and that’s quite a serious problem for anybody behind these front four or five riders you see how he goes around the outside of the curve right now just changing gear down a little bit these corners are around about 15 percent they are absolutely horrendous her ass though is doing a superb job right now as soon as he gets onto a straight level part of the course he gets himself back into that rhythm tries to get his cadence up again he’s opened up a minute and 15 seconds over your Sheba below key but more importantly is the time gap he seems to be opening up over I tokens Ollie’s melaque is doing a great job here but look at the face on him right now he’s just trying to ride himself and keep himself near the top of the Vuelta a Espana desperation on the face of Barack either in her ass every single one of these riders going through abject agony on this climb nobody’s having an easy day not the first rider and not the last rider everyone going through a purgatory to the top of the angry route well I’ll tell you what Bob one fears oh there is on the moon because that’s where I think we’ve just arrived here this barren summit of the land where they clouds it down the rain is pouring down as a massive crowd here and it’s been a wonderful ascent by the riders and this is which County today this’ll be mayor again a little bit further down the slope to him it’s her a spur lucky Casa Grande mayo on the climb Gonzales as well but I think you know Harris has done enough now to become the leader of the tour we’re gonna be close we have to see where ebon mail is on the road and you’re absolutely right everything rider in this race is made for a real spectacle of racing they haven’t held back one meter today not even with when you consider the difficulty of the final ascent it’s been a very aggressive race and it’s given roberta harris a real springboard a slingshot look at that – Gonzales 147 that is the race lead right there that’s enough to do it now all he’s got to do is just keep the pressure on he’s in gold tonight and Roberto harassed the winner in 2000 who was the leader when he came up this mountain in that year he’s now going to reclaim that golden jersey it’s not enough right now then he’s got to think about the other mountaintop finish before we finish this by trace in Madrid because I talk on Silas has proved that he is a superb time-trial is Roberto Harris right now we’ll take cheer from seeing that sign across the road which indicates he’s just got one kilometer to go the road actually levels out at around about 500 meters to go so there’s probably 500 metres left of really difficult climbing for this man to do and he could find himself opening up that gap a little bit more on ight organs Ollie’s who was really cracked over the last couple of kilometres but the man and it was amazing how we notice that at the bottom of the climb Bob that the man who led the fight race Oscar Sevilla did not look good in the early kilometers he didn’t look strong he was bent over as far as he had a little bit of laboring coming in to the pedals before we got on to the steep sloes of this client and how those are all coming back into his legs now and he’s feeling the full weight of all the pressure the whole season and having the golden golden jersey for most of this race and now he’s cracked wide open and Roberta her ass so astute so tactically perfect that he’s gauged his effort not just today but throughout the whole vault espana to perfect a fit he got to hand it to Johan Bruyneel he’s never spent any of his ammunition until it was absolutely necessary and what a marvelous sporting crowd it is on this dismal day high in the mountains of Spain because they haven’t listened to the organization they haven’t attempted to push these riders at all as we now see them continuing to battle away he’s about 500 metres in the summit now that was the Preem at the top of the mountain so he’ll get the honor taking the climb of the angler ooh now he’s just got a little falls flat and then a sprint up to the line then the watches will start well also fill hats off to the technicians for bringing as these pictures because the conditions out there are absolutely disgusting it really has been a tough thing to to be out there and bring the pictures I thought we might lose them but it’s been a great stage to witness here right now Roberto Harris of US Postal Service out on the attack he waited till the very steep part of the climb with about six kilometres to go and then he put the hammer down and blew everybody away he needs to be careful right now there’s just a slight descent and keep it on the road if you would Roberto we don’t want you going off right now because you’ve got to try and build as much time over the other riders in this bike race as possible the last time checked we had to the man who was in second place overall at the start of the day was 147 but it would all go down to what those times are on the line so the police at guiding home a magnificent man on this day in Spain Roberto harass attacked and followed the wail of Gonzalez blew him away and now his building building building what he hopes will be a time that will give him a golden jersey remember he once stayed six on lapidaire now he is one stage 15 on the langu and the clock has started now we must wait to see if indeed US postal have got themselves the leader of yet another Grand Tour this year this is joshie bubble loki racing up in second place second place on the road fifth at the start of the day but looking to climb up into a podium position right now he’s 26 seconds one since Roberto Harris came across the line the most important time though Phil is the time with the man who started the day ahead of Roberto Harris I talked on Saleh’s and that will be the time that will be most interested in the moment although Roberto Harris does need to open as much time as he can on everyone else in the bike race behind him because he is not the greatest of time trial list in the world he needs to have a good buffer going to Madrid but he still got some tough mountain stages to go to increase his lead well you were right about one thing Bob harass one now is he gonna get the lead I didn’t think he would I thought that artwork Nadal looks so good on the early slopes of the climb they would be able to limit his damages and keep the jersey for coming I think that actually would have been a good move for you as postal to do because now if harass does get the jersey it’ll be tough to keep it in the next few days and I guarantee you he’ll make will not lay down arms and they will attack all the way to Madrid well there’s no doubt he will get the jersey now because the clock is almost ticked away here the time before below Keys arrived in second place will be lucky who over those last three kilometers continue to lose ground harass there was a moment at around 3:00 a half kilometers it looked as though he was going to bring him back but no he crosses the line about 136 behind that 142 is almost gone it’s God and can the Francesco Casa Grande has come in as well the jersey seems to be no here comes yvonne mail and i think that right now the harass has enough time to get the gold jersey well it’s all over he’s got the golden jersey now as mayo comes in at 154 it should be i toll gongs Ollis who will come around that corner in 5th place but the peloton is going to be spread over an awful long way here they call it a bit of a sprint Gonzalez leading them in DeLuca there in Simoni that was a bit of a superb performance by him with Simoni but look at that two minutes 15 approximately well to move for two minutes 15 is plenty of time and that looks like angle Kucera who’s just come in as well so a superb ride by him but there are big time gaps in the whole of this bike race this afternoon Phil but there is one thing which is certain in the rain amidst at the top of Langley rue the man who has taken over the lead is a repair to Harris and we are still waiting to see now at the arrival at Garcia cassis coming when you see now the arrival of the yellow jersey and here he is at around about a two minutes and 50 seconds for Oscar severe he has lost his lead and so too as his teammate because Gonzalez has not found the second he wanted instead roberto harass of US postal has become the new leader of the welter Espania but I don’t think this race somehow is over yet and I don’t think her ass would argue with me on that one we’ll take a break and comes will be coming in for an awful long time this afternoon in these horrible conditions but let’s have a look at the results a winner for Alberto Harris in just over five hours a minute thirty five later your Shiva blocky then came Francesco Casa Grande he ban Mayo a tour Gonzalez who started the moves on the climb coming home last year defending champion and Hill casino coming home good ride for him just over two minutes and 20 seconds behind it’s a double prong victory for Roberto Harris today because not only is Nia the winner of stage 15 he is the new leader of the Vuelta a Espana and I think the most important thing that he needs to remember right now is he’s got a couple of reasonably flat stages Phil on Tuesday and Wednesday but Thursday and Friday are two very tough mountain stages again and he needs to attack again and increase his a time advantage over the men in second and third place behind him so having a look now at the overall situation in the race there’s a new leader tonight harassed leading the race now by 35 seconds over Gonzalez Oscar severe didn’t drop that far away he’s only 68 seconds behind in third but lucky is up to fourth Mayo is down to fifth Casa Grande has come up as well and looking further back Simoni is Alan Jersey switching shoulders yet again this time it might have a permanent home but there’s no way we can say that at this stage of the on the eve of the second day of rest for the riders because the rest of this week taking us all of the way to Madrid is a tough one for Roberta whereas he won’t have enough time advantage yet with that last date October he does have one more absolute cracker of a climb to come in midweek
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roberto heras welcome to olympique lyonnais ! <3