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RACE REPORTS: VUELTA A ESPAÑA STAGE 6: BOZIC AT HIS BEST
Road Bike Action & AFP
September 4, 2009
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(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
Slovenia's Borut Bozic of Vacansoleil won the sixth stage of the Vuelta a España on Friday as Germany's Andre Greipel of the Columbia-HTC team held on to the overall lead. The 29-year-old captured the 176.8km stage that started and ended in the eastern town of Xativa and included two testing mountain climbs in 4:40:50. US rider Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Slipstream placed second, ahead of Italy's Daniele Bennati of Liquigas. Greipel, who won the previous two stages of the Tour of Spain, finished the stage in 10th place.
"It is a dream and I am satisfied for my win given that I arrived at the end of the stage stuck together with Farrar and Bennati. At 250 meters from the finish I decided to pull away and I managed to surprise them," said Bozic. The Slovenian rider won the first stage of the 2009 Tour of Poland and well as two stages of the 2009 Tour of Belgium.
The seventh stage of the Tour of Spain on Saturday will be a 30-kilometer individual time trial, the second of the race, that starts and finishes on Valencia's flat Formula One motor racing street circuit. Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara won the first, a 4.8-kilometer course that began and ended in the Dutch town of Assen during the first stage of the race. Last year's top three finishers, champion Alberto Contador of Spain, US rider Levi Leipheimer and Carlos Sastre also of Spain, have stayed away from the three-week event which ends in Madrid on September 20.
The 64th edition of the race, the third Grand Tour of the year after the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, began outside of Spain this year for only the second time in its history.
Vuelta a España Stage 6, 176.8km
1. Borut Bozic (Slo/Vacansoleil) 4:40:50
2. Tyler Farrar (USA/Garmin-Slipstream) @ s.t.
3. Daniele Bennati (Ita/Liquigas)
4. Davide Viganò (Ita/Fuji-Servetto)
5. Tom Boonen (Bel/Quick Step)
6. Leonardo Duque (Col/Cofidis)
7. Sébastien Chavanel (Fra/Française des Jeux)
8. Cadel Evans (Aus/Silence-Lotto)
9. Marcel Sieberg (Ger/Columbia-HTC)
10. André Greipel (Ger/Columbia-HTC)
Overall Classification After Stage 6
1. André Greipel (Ger/Columbia-HTC) 24:21:13
2. Tom Boonen (Bel/Quick Step) @ .06
3. Daniele Bennati (Ita/Liquigas) @ .09
4. Tyler Farrar (USA/Garmin-Slipstream @ s.t.
5. Fabian Cancellara (Swi/Saxo Bank) @ .18
6. Borut Bozic (Slo/Vacansoleil) @.23
7. Ivan Basso (Ita/Liquigas) @ .27
8. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Caisse d'Epargne @ s.t.
9. Cadel Evans (Aus/Silence-Lotto) @ .28
10. David Garcia (Spa/Xacobeo Galicia) @ .33
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