Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali was on course to win the Vuelta a Espana after staging a courageous counterattack against Spain’s Ezequiel Mosquera in the penultimate stage on Saturday.
The Spaniard won the grueling and decisive mountainous stage just a second ahead of Nibali, of Liquigas, who now has a comfortable 41-second lead over the Xacobeo rider going into the finale in Madrid.
The 25-year-old Nibali, who was third in the Giro d’Italia this year, now appears set to claim one of cycling’s three Grand Tours for the first time.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Ahead of this year’s Vuelta many had predicted the event would be won or lost in the 20th stage, a 172.1km ride from San Martin de Valdeiglesias to the top of the 2,247m Bola del Mundo in the Guadarrama mountain range northwest of Madrid and so it proved.
In one of the most exciting stage finishes of this year’s event, Mosquera pulled away on the steep climb in the final kilometers.
The 34-year-old Spaniard, who is known as the better climber, built up a lead of 20 seconds over Nibali, but the Italian was ready for him and responded with a gritty assault of his own.
Third was Spain’s Joaquin Rodriguez of Katusha, 23 seconds behind Mosquera.
Nibali was exultant at the prospect of clinching the Vuelta in Madrid.
“When you win [a Grand Tour] it’s an honor, especially against a rival like Mosquera, who deserved to win,” Nibali said. “It’s an important victory. I will join the group of ‘great riders’ and it’s something I had dreamed of since I was very young.”
“I knew that the last three kilometers would be the hardest and they were crucial, that I should always be close to Mosquera,” he said. “I tried to control [the race] as much as possible and when I saw that I was catching him up, I thought everything was possible.”
Mosquera was tearful over his failure to put enough distance between him and Nibali.
“I attacked to win the Tour, not the stage, but Nibali was very strong, he showed that he knew how to manage the situation,” Mosquera said. “I pushed myself to the limit thinking that I could win the stage, dreaming of winning the Tour, when I saw that [Nibali] had caught up, I thought it was all lost ... but I’m proud of being behind a great champion like Vincenzo Nibali.”
■CANCELLARA QUITS
Reuters, COPENHAGEN
Olympic and world time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland will leave Team Saxo Bank at the end of the season, team manager Bjarne Riis said on Danish television on Saturday.
“Fabian and I have made an agreement that he can be released from his contract,” Riis told TV2 sports news. “That means that he will not be on our team next year.”
The announcement came a day after Cancellara pulled out of the Vuelta a Espana during the 19th stage from Piedrahita to Toledo, upsetting his team who said he had been expected to stay on to help teammate Frank Schleck at the finish.
■TOUR OF BRITAIN
Reuters, LONDON
Swiss rider Michael Albasini won the Tour of Britain on Saturday after his HTC-Columbia teammate Andre Greipel claimed his third stage win in the final stage around east London.
In front of impressive crowds, Germany’s Greipel sprinted clear at the end of eight 12km laps to edge out Argentina’s Sebastian Haedo (Saxo Bank) and Englishman Roger Hammond (Cervelo Test Team).
Albasini took the overall honors by 1 minute, 5 seconds from Slovenia’s Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil).
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