Spanish cyclist Carlos Garcia Quesada the 102-mile 17th stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Wednesday.
The rider from Comunidad Valenciana jumped onto the last breakaway of the day and attacked on a solo run for the last 13 miles to the finish in La Granja de San Ildefonso.
Francisco Mancebo, sitting in 4th place overall, finished less than a minute later. The effort moves Quesada up to 5th place in the overall standings, 6-minutes and 22 seconds behind the leading cyclist, Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros).
Barring a serious mishap (Heras has already fallen and received 15 stitches in his knee), Heras appears to have a clear road ahead to the finish in Madrid on Sunday. His nearest competitor, Russian Denis Menchov (Rabobank), trails by 4-minutes and 30 seconds, unable to make up any time on Wednesday.
The highest ranking American in the Vuelta, Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel), has slipped to 10th overall, 15 minutes and 39 seconds behind. Other US cyclists are Christian Vandevelde (CSC) who trails by one-hour and 10 minutes and Guido Trenti (Quick Step) at 2 hours and 39 minutes.
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