Portugal’s Nelson Oliveira celebrates on the podium after winning the 13th stage of Spain’s Vuelta yesterday.
AFP/Madrid
Portugal’s Nelson Oliveira came home alone to land the 13th stage of Spain’s Vuelta yesterday with Fabio Aru retaining the overall leader’s red jersey.
For Lampre rider Oliveira, a three-time national time-trial champion, this was a first ever stage win on one of the Grand Tours.
He set up his personal milestone by attacking with 30 kilometres of the 178km ride from Calatayud to Tarazona remaining. He had his fellow members of a breakaway group in trouble on the final climb of the day, extending his lead to the line.
France’s Julien Simon (Cofidis) out-sprinted Ireland’s Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) for second, this pair chased home by the rest of the breakaway group.
“It was a difficult day but things worked out in the best way possible for me,” reflected Oliveira in an interview with Spain’s public television station.
“It’s my first international victory and the first on a Grand Tour,” he added.
“Those last 30km were the longest of my life.”
Italian Aru took 36th place to keep the overall lead by 27sec from Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez. Tom Dumoulin is third, a further three seconds away.
Saturday’s 14th stage is the longest of the 2015 Vuelta, a 215km mountainous ride from Vitoria to the ski station of Alto Campoo, with an hors-category summit finish.Paris: The Astana cycling team were thrown out of the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC) after the Kazakh outfit failed to comply with the association’s strict anti-doping rules at this year’s Tour de France.
“After hearing Team Astana representative Dmitriy Fofonov’s arguments, the Board of directors of MPCC has decided to exclude Team Astana for non-compliance with article 9 of the regulations,” the MPCC said in a statement yesterday.
Astana rider Lars Boom of the Netherlands started the Tour in July despite showing low levels of cortisol in a test on the eve of the race. Low levels of the hormone can be explained by the use of corticoids, anti-inflammatory drugs that are allowed out of competition but forbidden while racing unless a rider is granted a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).
MPCC applies stricter rules than the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Under MPCC rules Boom should have rested for eight days but UCI regulations, by contrast, did not forbid him from racing.
“Although cortisol hormones are an allowed medicine when prescribed by a physician, the use of that medicine has frequently been abused in the history of sports (including in cycling) for the purpose of increasing the performance,” the MPCC added.
