Cycling Beat

The Route : An early mountains stage is one of the appetite-whetting aspects of the Vuelta a Espana and with the prospect of the climb up Lagos de Covadonga in only the 4th stage it was with greatt anticipation that I tuned in. Of course, there was more to the stage than the final climb, the riders also had to get over the Category 2 Alto de la Faya de los Lobos at the 17km mark and the Category 3 Alto de la Llama at the 131 km mark. But it was the Lagos de Covadonga that all the action took place.

Notable Performances : First mention must go to Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) for the aggression he displayed today. As the peloton began their ascent up the final climb chasing a lead group of 29 riders, it was Sastre who made all the pacing and all of the significant moves. If Carlos gets stronger the longer the race goes on (as he tends to do) then the other riders had beeter look out because they're going to be chasing one determined Spanish cyclist.

Vladimir Efimkin (Caisse d'Epargne) exploded away from the breakaway group with which he rode for much of the day and never looked like being headed. In fact, on the final climb of the day he only lost around 30 - 40 seconds from the bigger names chasing him down. A fantastic stage victory was fitting reward for a strong, brave day in the saddle.

Denis Menchov (Rabobank) again showed his liking for the Spanish mountain passes with a solid performance today covering every move made by Sastre, seemingly comfortably. Riding unencumbered by team-mate based distractions he once again looks the goods for the Vuelta.

Also looking strong all the way was eventual second placed Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval - Prodir) who moved through to sprint for the line after doing enough to look impressive all day.

Youngster Chris Anker Sørensen (Team CSC) displayed just what a startlingly promising talent he is in the Deutschland Tour when he finished prominently in each of the mountain stages. Today he played the part of the faithful team man for Carlos Sastre getting himself into the break away and then waiting for Sastre on the final climb before setting a damaging pace over a number of kilometres towards the end. The fact that he was able to hang on for 11th place only 1'50" behind the winner is testiment to his strength and ability. A day away from celebrating only his 23rd birthday, this bloke's a young man with a big future.

Strugglers

Cadel Evans (Predictor - Lotto) looks as though he is bone weary after a hard Tour de France. It may just have been a bad day, but he had major trouble going with any of the moves and his face was a picture of pain as he crossed the finish line. That being said, Oscar Pereiro was impressed with how well Evans managed to keep up, this being only the first week - I gues he knows a bit more about it than I would.

Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel - Euskadi) was gone early in the climb. I was expecting him to hang around for quite a long way into this but at the first sign of pressure from Sastre he said bye-bye.

A look at the Top Ten for Stage 4

1 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne                             4.39.56
2 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval - Prodir                          1.06
3 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel              
4 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank                                         
5 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis               
6 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC                                         
7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto                                          1.28
8 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis                                                    1.33
9 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez (Spa) Karpin Galicia                      1.36
10 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Liquigas                                         1.49

The 2007 Vuelta a Espana is 3 stages old and the sprinters have had their fun sharing wins between Daniele Bennati (Lampre - Fondital) in stage 1, Oscar Freire (Rabobank) taking stage 2 and World Champion Paolo Bettini (Quickstep - Innergetic) too strong in stage 3.

As seems to be the norm in the early stages of Grand Tours, we've also seen our share of crashes with a couple of the more fancied riders having their chances, as well as their bodies dented. The most notable is Oscar Pereiro (Caisse D'Epargne) in the second stage who was heavily involved in a massive pile-up at the end of the stage. He came down heavily and had to be assisted across the line by his team-mates. In that crash it was Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel) who came out of it the worst with a broken shoulder blade removing him from the race.

The third stage crash victim was Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel - Euskadi) who came down with 20km to go when a road cone was flicked into his wheels. He ended up losing 11' 00" for the day.

The leaders jersey has been on the back of two riders so far. Daniele Bennati took hold of it with his first satge victory but then, when he was caught up in the crash of stage 2, it was passed across to Oscar Freire. Freire then held onto it in the 3rd stage with a fighting 2nd placing also ensuring that he has taken a 20 point lead in the Points Classification.

So now we come to the 4th stage and the sprinters can go into survival mode. All of the pre-race favourites are present and accounted for with Cadel Evans (Predictor Lotto) sitting in 6th place, Jose Angel Gomez Marchante (Saunier Duval) in 10th, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) in 15th, Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) in 16th, Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) 48th and Oscar Pereiro (Caisse D'Epargne) 50th. But all of them have the same time as the leader.

It's all about to get ugly in the heat of battle.