Heras wins stage as Sevilla snatches lead

Reuters, Sierra de La Pandera, Spain

Spaniard Roberto Heras struck an important blow in his bid for a second Tour of Spain victory in three years when he took a solo win on the sixth stage on Thursday.

Although fellow-climber and compatriot Oscar Sevilla, second in the 2001 Vuelta, took the overall lead, Heras was clearly the strongest on the race's second consecutive mountain top finish.

The winner of the 2000 Tour of Spain clocked a time of three hours 56 minutes and 47 seconds for the 153.1-kilometer stage from Granada to the Sierra de La Pandera.

Italian Gilberto Simoni was second 18 seconds behind, and third in the same time came Sevilla to snatch the lead from Spaniard Mikel Zarrabeitia.

Heras attacked from a half-dozen strong group containing Sevilla with four kilometers left to go to the mountain top finish.

One kilometer later, after passing earlier attackers Simoni and Spaniard Iban Mayo, the 28-year-old US Postal rider had surged to the head of the race.

Sevilla, runner up last year after losing the lead in the final time trial, suffered badly when Heras attacked.

But he recovered well on the easier last section of the Pandera, a climb never tackled before in the Tour of Spain, to catch Simoni and Mayo, if not Heras.

"I started to run out of gas and to cap it all I had the wrong kind of gearing for such steep climbs," Sevilla explained later.

"Fortunately, I gradually found myself feeling stronger again.

"I had no intention of taking the jersey so soon in the race, but you can never complain about this.

"Perhaps I will try and get a team mate to take over to try and avoid pressure. It's something I will have to discuss with (Kelme-Costa Blanca sporting director) Vicente Belda later on today."

Heras, who finished fourth overall last year after suffering illness and knee injuries earlier in the season, said: "It's the first time I have won a stage in the Vuelta in two years, and it's always good to win at home.

"I didn't feel so good yesterday on Sierra Nevada," said the US Postal leader, who lost 58 seconds to Sevilla on Wednesday's fifth stage.

"However, this is a sign that I am on the way back up."

Sevilla now leads the race by 14 seconds from Telekom rider Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan, with Heras in third place 39 seconds back.

After the group kept up a fast pace as it ran past dense olive groves in rough terrain for the first three hours, 2001 Giro d'Italia winner Simoni was the first to attack on the second category climb of Villares, only separated from the final 8.3- kilometer special category ascent of La Pandera by a short descent.

Four kilometers from the line, on the Pandera's steepest section, an 18 percent gradient, Heras took off from the group of five in search of his first victory since the Tour of Catalonia in June.

The Vuelta now appears to have two clear favorites, Sevilla and Heras. If Sevilla succeeds it will be his first major tour win, and compensate for a Tour de France in which he was forced to abandon.

As for Heras, ninth in this year's Tour de France after working hard in the Pyrenees for overall winner and team leader Lance Armstrong, victory in Madrid would mean Postal could become the first squad to take two major tours in the same year since Banesto in 1993.