Minali wins again, Baldato retains lead; riders look forward to rest
By Andrew Hood

For the peloton's elite sprinters, positioning and timing are the name of the game where stages are won and lost in the final 200 meters.

Italy's Nicola Minali (Gewiss) timed his sprint just right to win his second-straight Vuelta Espana stage in historic Cordoba, while MX Onda's Marcel Wust was a victim in Sunday's frenetic field sprint.

Over the final kilometer of the Vuelta's 203-kilometer (125-mile) ninth stage, the AKI team lead out to position Guiseppe Citterio for the final sprint.

As Citterio went all out for the sprint, one of his teammates pulled back, blocking Wust and forcing the German to redirect his sprint. By the time Wust got back his rhythm, the race was over.

Minali, who took his third Vuelta stage of the race, powered out with Mapei's Tom Steels right on his wheel. Minali won and Wust had to settle for second.

Steels took third and hard luck continued for Giovanni Lombardi (Polti), who finished fourth while Citterio couldn't hold off the sprinters and took fifth.

Lombardi finished in the top-10 in each of the Vuelta's opening nine stages, finishing second or third in five of the stages, but never came out a winner.

MG-Technogym's Fabio Baldato retained the overall lead and American Bobby Julich (Motorola) keeps his climber's jersey as the peloton takes a day off Monday to prepare for Tuesday's 46.5-km (28.8-mile) time trial.

Julich is having a strong Vuelta, sitting in 14th overall just 1:23 back. He survived a dangerous crash in Saturday's first climb when rival Dimitri Konyshev (MX Onda) plowed him into fans lining the course.

Video shown Sunday revealed how serious Konyshev's bully tactics were. Konyshev body-checked Julich into the crowd just 50 yards from the top of the line. The Motorola rider landed hard on his back and later said only his helmet protected him from serious injury.

Konyshev, who's second behind Julich for the climber's jersey, was fined 200 Swiss francs and penalized the points he earned in the climb. Julich went on to win Saturday's second climb and has a 10-point lead over Konyshev for the jersey.

Now that the Vuelta's first round of sprint stages is over, expect to see the standings take on a dramatic new look, particularly after Tuesday's first of two time trials. All eyes will be on five-time Tour de France champion Miguel Indurain (Banesto). Indurain, who's never won the Vuelta, says he's going all out in the Avila time trial.

"In Avila I will see if I can win," said Indurain, 32, who's 1:35 back in the only major stage race he hasn't won during his illustrious career. Indurain sits in the top-30, but just 1:14 behind defending Vuelta champion Laurent Jalabert (ONCE). During the opening stages, the Banesto team protected Indurain and kept "El Rey" in good position throughout several dangerous stages.

"You always have to be attentive, because look what happened to Tony Rominger (Mapei) and Fernando Escartin (Kelme)," Indurain said, referring to the pair that lost more than seven minutes and any chance of winning in Monday's stage when ONCE attacked and split the field.

Indurain entered his first Vuelta since 1991 reluctantly, but has since shown that he's serious about winning.

"They say a lot about how ONCE are the main rivals, but there are others who can win," Indurain said. "I only hope in Avila it goes well and I become the leader so I can race to defend."

Others will be looking to limit their loses at Avila. The time trial features a Category-two climb and ends in Spain's highest city, at 1,120 meters (3,696 feet).

Jalabert isn't the strongest of time trialists, but he hopes to do well enough to remain in contention.

"In Avila, there won't be any time bonuses, only the course and stroking the pedals very hard," said Jalabert, who's in third overall 21 seconds behind Baldato.

The tempo was slow in Sunday's stage. The peloton rode together over most of the flat course that took the peloton into Cordoba, an historic city with narrow streets and white-washed buildings.

The Romans moved here in 89 B.C., followed by the Moors. Today, thousands of Spanish racing fans lined the streets to welcome Indurain and the rest of the peloton.

For the first time in several days, the peloton didn't have to battle strong headwinds. Still, the pace was slow with the racers only covering 108 kilometers in the first three hours.

There were no major attacks throughout the day while Jurgen Werner (Telekom) won all three sprints. The German rider now controls the "meta volantes," or hot sprints, jersey and sits in fourth-place overall.

Over the final 40 kilometers, several riders tried to slip away, but were all reeled back in by teams working to position their sprinters for the finish.

First to go out was Portugal's Joaquim Andrade (MAIA) at the 160-km mark. Following him out was France's Martial Locatelli (Petit Casino); both were reeled in within 10 kilometers.

Tom Cordes (MX Onda) and Mauro Gianetti (Polti) both went out in the final 20-kilometers, but were pulled back. Stephen Hodge (Festina/Lotus) made an unsuccessful charge in the final five kilometers. Two riders abandoned the race--Paolo Ferreira (MAIA) and Massimilano Lelli (Saeco)--leaving 166 riders to start Tuesday's time trial, though many sprinters may not participate at all.

Andrew Hood is in Spain covering the Vuelta for Outside Online.