Did a little over an hour of cyclocross up at the school today. Felt okay but was sluggish. Maybe the little run on Friday night and then the ride Saturday took more out of my legs than I expected. I got over the hurdles with only a couple slight bobbles. There are still 3 weekends until the first race so there should be some improvement before then.
News Item of the Day The Vuelta's final time trial in Madrid brought to a close the third grand tour of the season, and once again the Spanish race came down to the wire. In contrast to the previous three years, the race leader kept his jersey in the final time trial, which meant that Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) equalled Toni Rominger's record of three wins in the Vuelta (2000, 2003, 2004). Heras and his team controlled, but did not dominate the race after Heras took the gold jersey from Floyd Landis in stage 12, with the strong challenge from Phonak's Santi Perez falling 30 seconds short by the finish in Madrid today.
Heras told Cyclingnews that his third win was "the most beautiful". The first he said was an "enormous surprise" but this one "was beautiful because my team worked at the limit for me every day from the start of the race. My team has ridden a great Vuelta and we had to after the Tour. We had to come here and recover our form and our mental attitude. We came here from day one with the mission and the hope of winning."
Perez did win the final time trial but only took 13 of the 43 seconds he needed out of Heras. That gave the young Asturian his third stage win and second overall, which he was more than satisfied with. "It has been pretty hard," Perez told Cyclingnews after the stage. "Roberto for me is the better climber, a great cyclist with so much experience. And I give him my congratulations. To find myself in this situation is a dream. I hope to just continue improving like this. The Vuelta is a race I love a lot and it is very special for a rider like me. I knew from the start today that I was not going to win. As the kilometres passed and I saw the times that they were giving me I knew it was very difficult to gain 43 seconds. I went out at the limit and I gave it all. I went to do a good time trial and I did that.
Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) rode an excellent TT to finish second behind Perez and secure third overall, while Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) fended off Alejandro Valverde's challenge for the points jersey, Felix Cardenas took home the mountains jersey, Heras got the combination jersey, and Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme won the team's classification.
News Item of the Day The Vuelta's final time trial in Madrid brought to a close the third grand tour of the season, and once again the Spanish race came down to the wire. In contrast to the previous three years, the race leader kept his jersey in the final time trial, which meant that Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) equalled Toni Rominger's record of three wins in the Vuelta (2000, 2003, 2004). Heras and his team controlled, but did not dominate the race after Heras took the gold jersey from Floyd Landis in stage 12, with the strong challenge from Phonak's Santi Perez falling 30 seconds short by the finish in Madrid today.
Heras told Cyclingnews that his third win was "the most beautiful". The first he said was an "enormous surprise" but this one "was beautiful because my team worked at the limit for me every day from the start of the race. My team has ridden a great Vuelta and we had to after the Tour. We had to come here and recover our form and our mental attitude. We came here from day one with the mission and the hope of winning."
Perez did win the final time trial but only took 13 of the 43 seconds he needed out of Heras. That gave the young Asturian his third stage win and second overall, which he was more than satisfied with. "It has been pretty hard," Perez told Cyclingnews after the stage. "Roberto for me is the better climber, a great cyclist with so much experience. And I give him my congratulations. To find myself in this situation is a dream. I hope to just continue improving like this. The Vuelta is a race I love a lot and it is very special for a rider like me. I knew from the start today that I was not going to win. As the kilometres passed and I saw the times that they were giving me I knew it was very difficult to gain 43 seconds. I went out at the limit and I gave it all. I went to do a good time trial and I did that.
Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) rode an excellent TT to finish second behind Perez and secure third overall, while Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) fended off Alejandro Valverde's challenge for the points jersey, Felix Cardenas took home the mountains jersey, Heras got the combination jersey, and Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme won the team's classification.
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