Except for the lone Russian in the leader's golden jersey (Denis Menchov, left), the Spaniards controlled the Vuelta a Espana bicycle race Tuesday in the Pyrenees.
Roberto Laiseka of Euskaltel-Euskadi won the 119-mile stage from Andorra to Cerler, but he had five riders with him in the last miles of the mountaintop finish.
Carlos Sastre (Team CSC), Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros), Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears), overall leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank), and Carlos Garcia Quesada (Comunidad Valenciana) finished within 15 seconds. Laiseka, who had taken the rear of this group for a while, rocketed ahead with about a mile left.
Five of that group of 6 had finished in the top 8 in Monday's mountaintop finish; Laiseka was the newcomer to the group on Tuesday.
The finish didn't change things much overall (see full results at CyclingNews. With a day off on Wednesday, the top 10 in the General Classification are:
1. Menchov
2. Heras — 47 seconds behind;
3. Mancebo — 1:53 behind:
4. Sastre — 1:57 behind;
5. Quesada — 3:31 behind;
6. Tom Danielson (US, Discovery Channel) — 5:03 behind;
7. Manuel Beltran (Sp, Discovery Channel) — 5:09 behind:
8. Juan Mercado (Sp, Quick Step) — 5:45 behind;
9. Ruben Molina (Sp, Comunidad Valenciana) — 5:58 behind;
10. Michele Scarponi (Ita, Liberty Seguros) — 6:37 behind.
An earlier stage winner, Thor Hushovd, and former overall leader Brad McGee were among those who dropped out on Tuesday.
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