Philippe Gilbert wins stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana
Philippe Gilbert won the third-to-last stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Friday, with Tyler Farrar on his wheel and a seven-man group including overall leader Vincenzo Nibali, only one second behind. Only
two of the top-10 riders were in the leading group, with Nibali joined by third-place overall Peter Velits, the sixth and fifth over the line respectively. Overall runner-up Ezequiel Mosquera was 13 seconds behind the stage winner, 12 behind Nibali.
"In finishes like this, Nibali is quicker than me and he knows it," said Mosquera. "I'm disappointed to lose these 12 seconds, but in the end it doesn't change much. I still have to attack and give it
everything tomorrow."
Gilbert sprinted 500m from the line to win his second stage in the 2010 Vuelta. The rider was named by Filippo Pozzato as one of the favourites for World Championships road race in Geelong, Australia.
His performance in the stage, which was a similar style to the route in Geelong, seems to support that view.
"It was a very nice finish, very technical, and I had great help from my team to get in position before the climb," said Gilbert. "After that, there were some attacks from different riders but I stayed
calm and focused everything on the sprint."
Nibali is now 50 seconds ahead of Mosquera and 1:59 ahead of Velits, with Saturday’s penultimate stage being virtually the only opportunity to change that. The climb to Bola del Mundo in stage 20 will
be a vicious fight between the general classification contenders, while the 21st and final stage will be all about the sprinters.
"I knew it wasn't going to be easy," said Nibali. "I'm very relaxed. I will face a great adversary tomorrow and I don't know the climb, but I'm not worried."
Nicolas Roche moved ahead of Tom Danielson for the seventh place, just behind Xavier Tonto. Joaquim Rodriguez and Frank Schleck round out the top-five, both nearly four minutes behind and unlikely to change
that. Schleck punctured a tire near the end of the stage, but was close enough to the finish line to be awarded the same time as the group which finished 15 seconds behind Nibali, which only lost him eight seconds to Rodriguez, but that was enough to put the
Spaniard in fourth, three seconds ahead of the Luxembourg rider.
"I must have had a guardian angel taking care of me," said Schleck. "I had a rear wheel puncture on the final descent and I almost came off, I had both feet on the ground. I wasn't worried about time after
that. Even though the judges rectified my time, I'm just happy to be in one piece."
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