Spain's Grand Tour bike race that started 2 1/2 weeks ago with 189 cyclists competing has boiled down to a battle between two cyclists — Alejandro Valverde of Spain and Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan.
Vinokourov tried to nail his overall Vuelta a Espana victory Thursday by crushing Valverde on steep slopes of the Pandera, gaining — with time bonuses — 44 seconds over his rival by the finish. This in spite of Valverde's pre-race pledge to attack and win on the mountain.
Although Vinokourov's Astana teammate Andrey Kashechkin won the stage as a reward for helping to blow apart the peloton in the final climb, Vino holds a 53-second margin from Valverde.
Friday's 120-mile rolling stage with two Category 2 and 1 Catetory 3 hills is a setup for Saturday's penultimate stage and probably its final showdown — a 17-mile individual time trial around Rivas Vaciamadrid.
In their previous time trial meeting on Sept. 9, Vinokourov beat Valverde by 8 seconds as the two finished third and fourth in the 20-mile event.
Valverde won on the Pandera in 2003 and planned to repeat his performance this year. He sat with the main group as they started climbing behind Egoi Martinez (Discovery) and Iban Mayo (Euskaltel), who had gained a few seconds on the previous climb.
As the slope teetered up to 16%, Astana's Kashechkin attacked and was joined by Carlos Sastre of Team CSC. Vinokourov then catapulted from the devastated main group and charged ahead by himself, later joined by Kashechkin.
American Tom Danielson remains in 6th place, 7:05 out of first.
More results at CyclingNews and VeloNews; also hear Friday's stage live Eurosport. The Vuelta's final stage will be broadcast by OLN from 5 to 7 p.m. (ET) Sunday.
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