| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Petacchi claims fourth Spanish win
VALDEPENAS, Spain -- Italy's Alessandro Petacchi proved master of the bunch sprint again as he claimed his fourth stage win in the Tour of Spain in the 167.4km 14th stage between Albacete and Valdapenas. The Fassa Bortolo star held off American Fred Rodriguez and main rival Erik Zabel of Germany to claim his 14th win in major tours this year. Spanish ONCE rider, Isidro Nozal finished in the bunch to retain his 3min 03 second lead over teammate Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano. Petacchi has now gone one better than his record-breaking performances in midweek, when he became the first rider to win three stages in each of the three major tours in one calendar year. In 2003, he has also won four stages in the Tour de France and six in the Tour of Italy. Petacchi's power proved decisive in a dangerously tight home straight with the main protagonists rubbing shoulders in the dash for the line. Zabel, a former six-time consecutive winner of the Tour de France green points jersey, had managed to get his own back on Petacchi in midweek by winning two stages - however the Telekom sprinter was again relegated. In the overall standings Nozal, who was in tears after his second time trial win of the race on Friday, safely retained his advantage and looks a likely Tour of Spain winner with just over a week to go. Aitor Gonzalez, who won the Vuelta in 2002, quit the race on Saturday following a disappointing performance in Friday's time trial.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
