Cyclingpost.com - Victory for Sanchez in Vuelta a España

Victory for Sanchez in Vuelta a España

By Jonathan Roorda
Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:35:03

ALTO DE ABANTOS, Sep 21 (CP) - Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez has won the nineteenth stage in the Vuelta a España, while Denis Menchov easily defended his lead. Carlos Sastre moved into second place, at the expense of Cadel Evans.

On the second-to-last day of the Spanish race, it was time for overall classification riders to attack Denis Menchov's position.

The stage was just 135 kilometers long, but included some tough climbs including the final ascent up the Alto de Abantos.

Italian Alessandro Vanotti attacked and was later joined by Spaniard Lopez Garcia. At forty kilometers from the finish, their advantage stood at about three minutes.

Near the start of the final climb, the two up front were joined by Garate, Perez, Rubiera, Turpin and Isasi.

But when the climb really started, the seven leaders were soon realed in by a group of favorites.

Cadel Evans was visible struggling and the Australian lost touch with his rivals.

Up front, the group of favorites was reduced to just Denis Menchov, Carlos Sastre and Samuel Sanchez.

Sastre's main target was to earn as much advantage as possible in respect to Evans, competing for the second place in the overall classification.

At the finish, it was Sanchez to earn another victory for Euskaltel, just ahead of Moreno who managed to find his way back to the group in the last kilometers.

Sastre came in third, while Menchov calmly took the fourth place, knowing that yet another possibility for others to attack his Golden Jersey had been neutralized.