The 3rd stage of the Vuelta left Cangas de Onis this afternoon at 1:30 in bad weather (rain and intermittent sunny spells) With 154 km to cover, including 2 category 3 climb.
The stage is taylor made for a sprinters' finale, despite the mountains.

The question of the day was always which of the major sprinters would prevail--and the money was on Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo). Just between the Giro D'Italia and the Tour De France this year he's taken 10 victories, putting him in the same league as legends Eddie Merckx, Freddy Maertens, and Mario Cipollini

Action came early in the race at the Alto de Rebollala, where the first mountain points were disputed, with Perez (Cofidis), Cardena (Labarca), Millar (Cofidis) and Piepoli (Ibanesto) marking the points.

Four riders--Angel Vicioso (Once), Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel), Constantino Zaballa (Lemùe) and Beat Zberg (Rabobank) attacked to mark the first sprint points. The group continued to distance itself from the peloton. With 100 km remaining the group held a 3 minute lead; to assure a victory they neede a 5 minute advance on the peloton. With 90 km to go they had increased the lead to 3'07", and to 3'20" at the 80km mark.

The writing was on the wall by the time they reached the village of Treceno, though, as the breakaway group's distance shrunk to just over 3 minutes. Vicioso & Co. still looked fresh, but their lead was shrinking inexorably as they wound their way toward the 2nd category climb of the day, the Alto de Montana.

The escape group continued to score in all points categories, but were caught just after the mountains, with a little over 20 km to remaining.

The peloton had been maintaining speeds of over 65 km/h, but were constrained to ride more cautiously as the rain set in again. There were several crashes, one involving 7 riders, but none were serious. And there were some brief escapes in the last 20 km, notably Julich (Team Telocom), Navas (Relax-Fuenlabra), Montgomery (Fassa Bortolo) and De La Fuente (Saecp), but all were reigned back in by the peloton.

Serious jockeying for team position ensued. Despite massive efforts by Fassa Bortolo, Petacchi could not get in a great posotion; through it all Zabel stayed right on his wheel. Euskaltel were in front. Then at the "Flame Rouge" Lombardi attacked strongly and held briefly before a massive sprint unfolded. When it counted most, with about 50 meters remaining, Petacchi shot out with sureness and apparent ease, leaving Zabel behind by a good 2 bike lengths. Boonin, Dean and Lombardi followed close behind to round out the top 5.

In his present form, which has stayed with him all season, Petacchi seems invincible...and in the Vuelta 2003 there remain at least a half a dozen sprint finishes wherein he can shine. It seems to be less a question of "Will he win again?" than "Which records will he break this year?"...

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INFOS:

Abandon of David Plazza BIANCHI, third rider to abandon so far (due to a toothache).