Today's time trial in Zaragoza (6th stage, 148.8 km), the last chance for the "rouleurs" to get well placed before the high mountains unfurl tomorrow, held some surprises. David Millar, starting early in the day--and certainly the favorite, especially in light of his performances in the Tour De France in July--marked the time to beat, riding fluidly with a steady cadence to clock 54'54".

There were others equally motivated, though, who turned in remarkable performances; those who tend toward being time trial specialists, some of them already highly placed, and the climbers, aiming to put themselves in advantageous positions going into the Pyréenés.

Of the latter categor, Manuel Beltran of U.S. Postal put in an especially strong performance, just 22" off Millar's time to move into 3rd overall, while teamate Roberto Heras put in a respectable 57'12" to move up to 5th. Both riders are well placed to make a grab for the leader's gold jersey in the coming days.

Among the top 5 in the mountains competition, only Nozal, as we shall see, made a strong showing. Luis Perez, over 4 minutes down in today's stage, fell to 14th overall.

Richard Viirenque, already 9'42" down overall, lost another 8 plus minutes: it remains to be seen whether the 6 time King of the Mountains winner in the Tour De France is in form to pull off a stage win in the mountains.

Glez; Galdeano rode impressively to finish just 17" below Millar, lifting him to 2nd overall.

There were other solid performances (see stage classifications), but the story of the day was undoubtedly that of Isidro Nozal, who at the 1/4 mark was already 8" up on Millar. At the halfway point he was nearly a minute and a half up; nearing the 3/4 mark he still hadn't let up while overtaking two of his Once teamates. Nozal never cracked, pouring it on in the last few hundred meters to beat Millar's time by a full 1'20".

Nozal has been the big surprise during the ealry phase of this tour. Neither a pure climber nor precisely a time trialist, nor the leader of his Once team, he nevertheless leads in the mountains points competition and wears the leader's gold jersey. Even if he has to relinquish the gold jersey in the coming days in the mountains, as is likely to happen, Nozal has shown brilliantly and today put his name indelibly on the books.

The time trialists will have two more chances to shine, in Valdepenas and San Lorenzo, later in th tour. Whether those races prove as critical as they did in the 19th stage of this year's Tour De France depends, in large part, on what transpires in the Pyréenés and the Sierra Nevadas. Let the drama begin!


Stage Classification

1 - NOZAL
2 - MILLAR à 1' 26"
3 - HRUSKA à 1' 37"
4 - GONZALEZ de GALDEANO
5 - BELTRAN
6 - MOLLER
7 - GRATSCH
8 - FRIGO
9 - GONZALES Aitor
10 - CASERO


General Classification

1 - NOZAL
2 - GONZALEZ de GALDEANO à 2' 27"
3 - BELTRAN à 2' 42"
4 - MOLLER à 4' 16"
5 - HERAS 4' 35"


Points

1 - PETACCHI 50
2 - NOZAL 47
3 - GLEZ Galdeano 44
4 - ZABEL 42
5 - DEAN 37

Mountains

1 - CARDENAS 34
2 - PEREZ 25
3 - NOZAL 20
4 - JEKER 16
5 - SASTRE 12

Combined

1 - NOZAL 6
2 - GLEZ 26
3 - PEREZ 27
4 - HRUSKA 35
5 - SASTRE 41

Teams

1 - ONCE
2 - US POSTALE
3 - EUSKALTEL
4 - IBANESTO
5 - KELME