CYCLING Live

Vuelta a Espana - Barbastro - Andorra (Naturlandia)

Live Comments

18:45 - Thanks for joining us today for this difficult day's racing. Let's hope the weather improves tomorrow so that we can enjoy the action with live pictures!!
18:09 - Valverde lost 55 seconds to rival Contador, finishing 3:40 back in 19th.
18:09 - Confirmation of that result: 1. Ballan 6:15:51, 2. Mosquera at 2:42, 3. Contador at 2:45, 4. Rodriguez at 2:50, 5. Leipheimer at 2:50, 6, Anton at 2:50, 7. Sastre at 2:50.
17:56 - Contador only gained a handful of seconds over his rivals but he has laid down the gauntlet. No news where Valverde finished so make sure you see the stage report later...
17:54 - Lack of live pictures makes it very hard to give you the full picture of what is going on, but one thing is clear: amidst the mist and rain, Ballan has shot into the leader's golden jersey. The most unpredicatable of results today!
17:52 - Meanwhile, back in the slimline peloton, Valverde has been dropped and Contador has attacked!!
0km - Victory for Ballan! The Italian overcomes the most heinous of conditions to take stage seven of the Vuelta, his first victory of the year and ninth career scalp.
2km - Astana are piling on the pressure on the front and the lead is dropping considerably... but Ballan is within touching distance of the finish!
17:45 - Alessandro Ballan va a ganar la séptima etapa de la Vuelta a España. Victoria italiana en la primera gran etapa de montaña de la ronda, con final en el alto de la Rabassa. El corredor del Lampre levanta los brazos bajo la niebla. Etapa épica con frío y lluvia.
6km - Ballan is going from strength to strength on his way to a first victory this year. The Italian now has 3'58" over De Maar, with Spaniard Ezequiel Mosquera having left the peloton and riding at 4'11". The peloton is now at 4'28". No news as to whether or not Chavanel is there (remember - there are no live pictures at the moment due to the adverse weather conditions). If the Frenchman is there, Ballan must finish with more than a 2'30" advantage in order to wear the gold jersey tomorrow...
10km - Arroyo has been caught by the peloton, as well as Bettini and Garcia. Only Ardila, Meersman and De Maar ride between leader Ballan and the chasing pack.
11km - Meersman is 3'40" behind Ballan, who looks set to wear gold tonight... provided he keeps it together! De Maar is at 1'30" and the peloton at 5'35", with the Arroyo-Ardila and Bettini-Garcia twosomes somewhere in between.
12km - Arroyo and Mauricio Ardila have now dropped Bettini and Garcia on the first stages of the final climb of the day, the HC summit finish in La Rabassa.
13km - Ballan is having a stormer. The Lampre rider now has 1'28" over Dutchman De Maar. Meanwhile, David Arroyo has joined the Bettini chasing group...
14km - De Maar is in pursuit after the Dutchman dropped Landaluze. No news on Meersman... but the Bettini trio is riding a 4'44".
15km - Ballan is now riding ahead alone with the peloton at 5'40". This bad weather may have played into the Italian's hands: if he holds on he could well be the overnight gold jersey.
20km - Chavanel found it hard going up the first ascent of the Rabassa, but the Frenchman is back in the peloton on the descent. Will he do enough to keep his gold jersey today after this rain-soaked stage?
22km - Zandio has been caught by Garcia and Bettini on the descent. Amets Txurruka is in hot pursuit while his Euskaltel team-mate Ivan Velasco has taken a spill.
23km - The peloton is riding at 5'30" from the trio-en-tete.
23km - CORRECTION: Landaluze has turned things round, having caught the three leaders on the descent and passed them. He now has a 20 second lead over the others.
24km - Confirmation of the top nine riders over the summit of the Rabassa: 1. De Maar, 2. Ballan, 3. Meersman, 4. Landaluze, 5. Zandio, 6. Paulinho, 7. Rubiera, 8. Kloeden, 9. Leipheimer.
25km - CORRECTION: Paolo Bettini, winner on Thursday in Toledo, has jumped clear of the peloton on the descent, along with David Garcia (Xacobeo Galicia). That's a dangerous move, given the slippery roads and terrible weather...
26km - The temperature has dropped again to just seven degrees.
28km - The peloton, which has been slimmed down to around 50 riders, crosses the summit 6'27" down on the three leaders.
30km - Race radio says the three have gone over the summit with a 18-second lead over Landaluze. Zandio comes over 2'38" down, while the peloton are just over six minutes in arrears. Confirmation of all that coming up.
35km - Halgand has been joined by Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel) and Carlos Castano (Xacobeo Galicia) in a trio riding 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. There are hardly any fans at the finish due to this heavy rain, thick mist and 11 degree temperatures...
36km - Apparently Zandio punctured on the foot of the climb, which was why he dropped back...
36km - STILL NO LIVE PICTURES OF THE RACE DUE TO THESE TERRIBLE CONDITIONS.
36km - RUMOURS: A certain Australian sprinter who failed to shine in this year's Tour has reportedly signed a contract with Carlos Sastre's new team Cervilo... Nothing confirmed as yet.
37km - Landaluze is the next to crack, leaving just three riders out together ahead. Meanwhile, back in the peloton Patrice Halgand of Credit Agricole has jumped clear and rides 30 seconds ahead of the bunch, who are 7'50" behind De Maar, Meersman and Ballan.
38km - Zandio is first to go on the early slopes of the first category ascent of La Rabassa. The first ascent of this climb is shorter than the second, with an average gradient of 6.9% over 12.9km.
38km - Zandio has been dropped by the other four leaders and now rides at 25 seconds off the pace. The weather is still shocking, although the temperature has risen to 17 degrees.
40km - The weather is so bad in Andorra that there are not actually any live pictures at the moment. The lead has dropped to 8'50".
45km - Result of the intermediate sprint at Sant Juliá de Loria: 1. Ballan, 2. Zandio, 3. Landaluze.
55km - Matej Jurco of Milram has hit the deck right in the middle of the peloton. The Slovak is trying to make it back into the peloton now as the penultimate climb of the day approaches. The lead has gone back over the ten-minute barrier.
60km - The rain has started to lash down again after a period of respite.
62km - A reminder of those riders ahead: Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), Xabier Zandio (Caisse d'Epargne), Inigo Landaluze (Euskaltel), Marc de Maar (Rabobank) and Gianni Meersman (Française des Jeux). They hold a lead of 9'50" over the peloton, making Ballan the virtual gold jersey.
65km - Astana clearly mean business, the lead having dropped by a minute in just a matter of kilometres.
70km - The lead drops to just under ten minutes after a quicker fourth hour with an average speed of 39.25 km/h. Astana's tempo clearly having an impact. In fact, it is a tricky segment this slow, slightly uphill stretch towards the Redassa. Many of the riders will be completely exhausted before the big two climbs of the day even get underway. Stay tuned because it's not long to go now until all the action will be played out.
90km - Astana have now moved to the front of the peloton to help cut into that 10'49" lead. With Leipheimer in 2nd and Contador in 4th, this is a very strong Astana team out there.
94km - Incidentally, England are playing Andorra in football later tonight. Thankfully for the race organisers the game will take place in Barcelona and not the Pyrenean Principality. Can you think of anything worse than a set of drunken Brits pushing people off bikes?
95km - The Vuelta has come to Andorra on 16 previous occasions, the most recent being last year when the Russian Denis Menchov took to spoils in Arcalis. Today's finish will be the 8th summit finish in Andorra since the race made its first appearance in the principality back in 1965. Other past winners in Andorra include GC hope Alejandro Valverde, who took the stage to Port d'Envalira in 2003.
102km - NEWS REMINDER: CSC's Carlos Sastre, the Tour de France champion, and his Australian team director Scott Sunderland will both defect to the newly formed Canadian outfit Cervelo TestTeam in 2009. "It is a new project which fits very well with my way of being," Sastre said.
105km - Cofidis, the team of gold jersey Chavanel, lead the chase back in the peloton, which is now just over 11 minutes adrift of the leader group - which includes virtual gold jersey Ballan.
108km - The lead over the top is 10'47" for the five leaders, who are now have to negotiate a tricky up-and-down segment of the race before descending into the valley ahead of the two final showpiece climbs of the day. The conditions are far cry from the hot sun we had prior to the rest day: 15 degree temperatures, a fierce wind and heavy showers are making it a truly arduous task for the men in Lycra.
115km - Order over the top of the third-cat Collado de Faidella: 1. De Maar, 2. Landaluze, 3. Ballan, 4. Zandio. Full time checks back to the peloton coming up.
118km - The Ukrainian Volodymr Diudia has pulled out of the race. One of those breakaways on the way to Toledo on Thursday, the Milram rider was 153rd in the GC but has bitten the dust in this first Pyreneen stage before the big climbs have even got underway.
122km - Jose Vicente Garcia Acosta crashes but it's nothing serious and manages to get back into the peloton.
127km - A reminder of those riders ahead: Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), Xabier Zandio (Caisse d'Epargne), Inigo Landaluze (Euskaltel), Marc de Maar (Rabobank) and Gianni Meersman (Française des Jeux).
128km - The lead has grown to 10'35" as the peloton starts the third-cat Collado de Faidella. Sylvain Chavanel is not sweating too much: the Frenchman knows it is highly unlikely he will be in gold tomorrow and so he is making the most of it. Ballan, two and a half minutes behind in the GC, is virtual race leader at the mo, although he too is unlikely to stay out in front till the end.
130km - The final two climbs of the day - the category one La Rabassa and the HC summit finish of the Alto de la Rabassa in Andorra - should see the three favourites for the race - Spaniards Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde and Carlos Sastre - pit their wits against each other in true ding-dong fashion. Bring it on! Before that, the third category ascent to Faidella...
132km - With just over 130km left to ride, the leaders pass through the feeding zone with a lead of 10'15". With no out-and-out climbers in the group, they will need every second they can get if they want to preserve their lead right up to Andorra.
12:43 - We're two hours in now, and as every rider is over the summit the break group have taken their lead to over 10 minutes. The average speed over the last 60 minutes was 41.350 km/h, well ahead of schedule.
12:30 - The first three men over the summit of the first climb are Landaluze, Ballan and de Maar.
12:18 - Stef Clement is the first rider to abandon in Stage Seven. Dutch Bouygues Telecom team-mate had already dropped out. Zandio has problems of his own, but manages to catch back up to the lead group without a problem as they enter some fog.
12:06 - The main pack are running their own stage at the moment, seemingly letting the breakaway group do their own thing. That quintet - Ballan, de Maar, Zandio, Lanadluze and Geersman - are 8mins 50s ahead as they start the climb up to Puerto de Montllobar.
11:59 - The riders have all passed over the 'border' into Catalonia. The rain has come with them, though it is easing somewhat.
11:40 - So, after the first hour the breakaway group has 7mins 20s on the main pack, led by Cofidis' riders. That elad will be tested once the climb up to Puerto de Montllobar, and category 2 climb.
11:18 - That breakaway group of Alessandro Ballan, Marc de Maar, Xabier Zandio, Inigo Landaluze, Gianni Geersman and David Moncoutie. Zandio at following the Benabarre sprint as the lead grows to almost five minutes.
11:10 - That group is now minus David Moncoutie, who has dropped back into the main bunch as the group fires off into a 1min 28s lead.
11:00 - A breakaway group has finally emerged, after several abortive attempts. Moncoutie, Meersman, Landaluze, Zandio, de Maar and Ballan have pulled away into a nine second lead.
10:50 - Despite the rain, the bunch is flying along. Bouygues Telecom, Rabobank, Liquigas and Euskaltel have all launched attacks.
10:44 - The riders are underway!
10:43 - Jesus Prado currently leads in the climber's classification, ten points ahead of Pedraza and Ocana.
10:29 - There have been a couple of withdrawals: Carlos Barredo Llamazales has pulled out after breaking his hand on Stage Four. Nikolay Trusov has also quit ahead of the mountain stages, leaving 165 riders in the field.
10:28 - He'll face a strong challenge from home duo Alberto contador and Carlos Sastre, who announced yesterday that he will be leaving the CSC team soon.
10:27 - Sylvain Chavanel dons the Yellow Jersey today after overtaking Levi Leipheimer at the top iof the overall standings thanks to his time bonuses in the Stage Six intermediate sprints. Let's see how he fares up in the clouds today.
10:25 - Welcome to Eurosport's LIVE coverage of Stage Seven of the Vuelta a Espana! Today's stage winds through the Pyrenees from Barbastro to Andorra, 223.2km in total.