Nibali retakes Vuelta lead
Stage 17 of the Vuelta a Espana, the first stage after the second and final rest day, took the form of a 46km time-trial. Peter Velits, of HTC-Columbia, won the time trial in 52:43, 12 seconds ahead of runner-up Denis Menchov and 37 seconds ahead of third
place Fabian Cancellara.
"On the way out, I didn't give 100% but on the way back, I put the hammer down. I saw Danielson in front of me. He was coming closer and closer. It was such a big motivation."
Vincenzo Nibali, of Team Liquigas, finished in 15th place, more than four minutes ahead of the previous race leader Joaquin Rodriguez, who finished in 105th place. Nibali will enter stage 18, the first of the final four, in the leader’s
jersey, after retaking it from Rodriguez, who has fallen to fifth-place overall.
"Since the first part was very difficult with the wind, it was important to start strongly," said Nibali. "In the first ten kilometres I was gaining 25 seconds on my rivals, and I puncture because of some small gravel on the white paint, so I lost those
25 seconds.”
Cancellara, of Team Saxo Bank, is the current world time-trial champion, and will be defending that title as the leader of the Swiss nation team in the UCI Road World Championships. He suffered from less favourable wind conditions than the top-two riders
in today’s stage, but that is not to take any credit from Peter Velits’ impressive performance, which moved him into third overall, two minutes behind Nibali.
"I'll try to keep my spot on the podium as hard as I can. There's one more climbing stage. I'll do everything I can," said Velits. "I'm already very happy with the victory I got.”
Velits is 1:44 ahead of Frank Schleck, who is one second ahead of Rodriguez and sixth-place Xavier Tonto. Tom Danielson successfully defending his seventh place overall, while Nicolas Roche fell from fifth to eighth. Rounding out the top-ten are Carlos Sastre
and Luis-Leon Sanchez.
"Now my main rival is Mosquera," said Nibali. "I expected Rodriguez to lose up to three minutes but not 4.18! The more he was moving forward, the more time he was losing.”
Denis Menchov, for Rabobank, is back in 41st, belying his 3rd place finish in the Tour de France, and Cancellara is way back in the hundreds, near the end of the pack. Nibali’s closest competitor is current runner-up Ezequiel Mosquera,
39 seconds behind the leader.
“On Saturday I'll try to control the race the same way I've done to the Lagos de Covadonga,” said Nibali. “I'll keep teammates next to me as long as possible with Oliver Zaugg and Roman Kreuziger on the climb. I'll be looking closely at Mosquera only."
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