Sabato 27 Agosto - 1ª tappa Granada-Granada (Cronometro) km 7,0 1ª tappa - Sabato 27 agosto: Granada-Granada - cronometro di 7 km Il russo Menchov vince il prologo di Granada © Photo Bettini Menchov surprises himself with a win Denis Menchov, the first rider to wear the Golden Jersey this year, was surprised by both his performance and his stage win today. “This is my sixth season as a professional and, I must admit, there have been occasions on which I have not lived up to expectations”. The Russian, who claims to have worked hard throughout the year, declared himself satisfied with the sensations experienced during the stage. “I did not think that I would perform well enough to beat the time trial specialists”. Asked whether he considers himself among the favourites in this year’s race, he replied: “I feel good and I want to take it day by day. There is still a lot of racing to be done. I have confidence in myself and in my team”. 1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 9.45 (43.01 km/h) 2 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Quick Step - Innergetic 0.01 3 Bradley McGee (Aus) Française des Jeux 0.03 4 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 0.07 5 Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel 0.12 6 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 0.13 7 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 0.15 8 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 9 Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.18 10 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 0.20 11 Christian Vandevelde (USA) Team CSC 12 Francisco Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 13 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 14 Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa) Lampre - Caffita 0.21 15 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 0.22 16 Roberto Laiseka Jaio (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.23 17 Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 18 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 0.24 19 José Azevedo (Por) Discovery Channel 20 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.26 21 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 22 José Enrique Gutierrez Cataluna (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.27 23 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 24 Benjamin Noval (Spa) Discovery Channel 25 Egoi Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.28 26 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 27 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 28 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Fassa Bortolo 29 Michael Barry (Can) Discovery Channel 0.29 30 Frédéric Finot (Fra) Française des Jeux 31 Ruslan Ivanov (Mda) Domina Vacanze 0.30 32 Iñigo Cuesta (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 33 Leonardo Bertagnolli (Ita) Cofidis, le credit par telephone 0.31 34 Charles Wegelius (GBr) Liquigas - Bianchi 35 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 0.32 36 Unai Yus Kerejeta (Spa) Bouygues Telecom 37 Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) Lampre - Caffita 0.33 38 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step - Innergetic 39 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 0.34 40 Luis Perez (Spa) Cofidis, le credit par telephone 41 Adolfo Garcia Quesada (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 42 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team CSC 0.35 43 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis, le credit par telephone 0.36 44 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) T-Mobile Team 45 Uwe Peschel (Ger) Gerolsteiner 46 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 47 Josep Jufre (Spa) Relax Fuenlabrada 48 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 49 Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano (Col) Davitamon - Lotto 0.37 50 Andreas Klier (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.38 51 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team CSC General classification after stage 1 Kranker Uwe Peschel beißt sich beim Vuelta-Start durch - Kein Auftakt nach Maß für die Gerolsteiner Die Premiere des Team Gerolsteiner bei der Vuelta a Espana stand unter keinem guten Stern. "Das war sicher kein Auftakt nach Maß, aber jetzt kann es nur besser werden", bilanzierte der Sportliche Leiter Reimund Dietzen am Samstag nach der ersten Etappe. Auf dieser - das Zeitfahren über sieben Kilometer in Granada gewann der Russe Denis Menchov (Rabobank) und sicherte sich damit das Goldene Trikot - hatte Uwe Peschel mit Rang 45 für die beste Platzierung der Rennfahrer aus der deutschen ProTour-Mannschaft gesorgt. Dabei stand die Teilnahme des Routiniers aus Kressbronn bei der 60. Spanien-Rundfahrt bis zuletzt in Frage. "Wir haben lange überlegt, ob ein Start von Uwe überhaupt Sinn macht", erklärte der Sportliche Leiter der Gerolsteiner. Denn Peschel war mit Magenproblemen angereist; er hatte Durchfall und musste sich erbrechen. Der 36-Jährige biss sich aber durch und absolvierte den Kurs trotz seines Handicaps nur 36 Sekunden langsamer als Gewinner Menchov. Allerdings war der Routinier nicht das einzige Sorgenkind im Aufgebot von Dietzen. So zeigte auch Sven Montgomery die gleichen Symptome wie Peschel. "Monty ging es am Freitag so schlecht, dass er noch nicht einmal bei der Team-Präsentation dabei war", berichtete der Trierer. Doch auch der Schweizer ("Ihm und Uwe geht es mittlerweile etwas besser") wollte nicht verzichten. "Aber die beiden sind kein Risiko eingegangen", meinte Dietzen. Montgomery blieb so Rang 185. Für den 29-Jährigen war jedoch bereits sein Start ein Erfolg. Neben den gesundheitlichen Problemen hatten sich die Gerolsteiner noch mit einem Sturz von Matthias Ruß und einem Hinterraddefekt bei René Haselbacher beim Vuelta-Debüt herumzuschlagen. "Aber wir sehen das positiv. Ab jetzt kann es nur noch aufwärts gehen", ließ sich Dietzen nicht unterkriegen. Denis Menchov prima maglia amarillo della Vuelta di Spagna © Photo Bettini Classifica Generale 1 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 9.45 2 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Quick Step - Innergetic 0.01 3 Bradley McGee (Aus) Française des Jeux 0.03 4 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 0.07 5 Tom Danielson (USA) Discovery Channel 0.12 6 Ruben Plaza Molina (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 0.13 7 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 0.15 8 David Bernabeu (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana 9 Santiago Botero Echeverry (Col) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.18 10 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 0.20 11 Christian Vandevelde (USA) Team CSC 12 Francisco Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 13 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth Team 14 Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa) Lampre - Caffita 0.21 15 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 0.22 DOMINA VACANZE PRO TEAM ALLA 60^ EDIZIONE DELLA VUELTA A ESPAÑA Alla partenza della Vuelta a España 2005 il Domina Vacanze Pro Team si presenta con una squadra giovane e dei corridori molto motivati: Simone Cadamuro – velocista, Alessandro Cortinovis – passista, Marco Fertonani – passista scalatore, Angelo Furlan – velocista, Sergio Ghisalberti – passista scalatore, Ruslan Ivanov – passista, Mirco Lorenzetto – velocista, Rafael Nuritdinov – passista e Luca Solari – passista scalatore. Gli uomini di classifica sono Marco Fertonani e Ruslan Ivanov. Il velocista di punta è Simone Cadamuro, a cui toccherà il compito di districarsi negli arrivi in volata. Buone le aspettative per il giovane Sergio Ghisalberti, che punterà al successo di tappa. Vuelta a Espana 27/08-18/09 Fabio Baldato, Lorenzo Bernucci, Juan Antonio Flecha, Alessandro Petacchi, Alberto Ongarato, Fabio Sacchi, Marco Velo, Matteo Tosatto, Julian Sanchez. D.s. Bruno Cenghialta e Alessandro Giannelli LIBERTY SEGUROS-WÜRTH'S LEADER MAKES A STRONG START IN THE VUELTA Roberto Heras: " This result has motivated me " Roberto Heras finished seventh, 15 seconds behind the winner, Denis Menchov, in the prologue of the Vuelta a España. Liberty Seguros-Würth's leader, very happy with his result, said that, " this boosts my morale to start the race well". The team, according to Manolo Saiz, obtained " an inconsistent result, because I have seen my riders better than the times they obtained. Roberto rode very well as did Vicioso. On the contrary, Igor was blocked ". Saiz explained that this time trial "was very complicated and it needed an extraordinary day to ride it well. Beloki's fall was a pity, because he then rode very well ". Manol Saiz is satisfied both with Roberto Heras's result and the situation in the overall. " I like how the race has started. For me it was important that a team such as Rabobank took the lead, one of those that said it was not going to compete in the Vuelta, because now it will be one more team to control the race". Joseba Beloki was the most unfortunate rider on the team, suffering a fall just after the start, on the second bend, probably due to dirt on the asphalt, with oil and dust. Beloki hit his right shoulder and hip (the same place where he got hurt when he fell in the 2003 Tour), He jumped back on his bicycle and it was then that he noticed that his handlebar was broken, forcing him to change his bicycle. Fortunately, Joseba did not suffer any serious injuries and did not have to go to hospital. Roberto Heras: " I am very happy with my race. It was a very explosive time trial, but I felt very good. To stay among the top ten in a prologue of less than 10 kilometres motivates me to start off the Vuelta a España well. The times established today are not significant, you cannot draw any conclusions about who is going to lose the Vuelta, but doing it well boosts your morale. For me the important thing is that I am taking part in the Vuelta and this result is a good symptom. Here are still many days of the race to come, but I now know that this is the rhythm that I have to maintain. The parcours had a certain amount of danger because the asphalt was not in good condition, it was very dirty. Because of that I was cautious on the bends, particularly on the descent. Though I lost some seconds, the outcome was very positive".