Vuelta a España 1999 - 09 Los Corrales de Buelna Brochard

Vuelta a España 1999 - 09, Gijón - Corrales de Buelna, 185.8 kms:

1 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Lotus-Festina 4.33.4 (40.736 km/h)
2 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin 3
3 Nicola Miceli (Ita) Liquigas 3
4 Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros 3
5 Rolf Sörensen (Den) Rabobank 3
6 José L. Rubiera Vigil (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 8
7 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 54
8 Serguei Outchakov (Ukr) TVM-Farm Frites 1.10
9 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 1.10
10 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Saeco-Cannondale 1.16
11 Daniele Contrini (Ita) Liquigas 2.00
12 Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Cofidis 3.11
13 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mapei-Quick Step 3.14
14 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 3.14
15 Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 3.14
16 Abraham Olano Manzano (Spa) ONCE 3.14
17 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 3.14
18 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) TVM-Farm Frites 3.14
19 Andreas Klier (Ger) TVM-Farm Frites 3.53
20 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 3.53
21 Aitor Osa Eizaguirre (Spa) Banesto 3.55
22 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Banesto 3.55
23 Gianni Faresin (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 3.55
24 Santiago Blanco (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 3.55
25 Marcos A. Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) ONCE 3.55
26 Andrea Noe (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 3.55
27 José M. Jimenez Sastre (Spa) Banesto 3.55
28 Txema Del Olmo Zendegi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3.55
29 Roberto Laiseka Jaio (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 3.55
30 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 3.55

GC after Stage 9:

1 Abraham Olano Manzano (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 38.52.14
2 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 2.08
3 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mapei-Quick Step 2.58
4 Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 3.58
5 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 5.05
6 Angel Casero (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 5.56
7 José M. Jimenez Sastre (Spa) Banesto 6.10
8 José L. Rubiera Vigil (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 6.15
9 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Team Polti 6.53
10 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Banesto 7.06

Report:

There was no real let up after yesterday's brutal stage to Angliru, with the stage including three climbs, however, the bunch did allow a group of 12 riders to go clear.

With only 20 km remaining in the stage, the group still had three minutes on the bunch. Brochard was actually dropped on the climb of the Cat 2 Alto Collado De Cieza with eight km to go, leaving a lead group of four that included current world road race champion Oscar Camenzind.

Sorensen and Brochard caught these four with less than one kilometre remaining and Brochard blasted straight past, and no-one chased until it was too late.

"Winning my first stage on this Tour is very important for me, especially after everything that has happened in the past year. Now I can forget all about it," Brochard said.

"The final stretch was very difficult for me because of the continuing climbs and drops as well as the incessant rain which made the roads and the descents very dangerous," he said.

The stage win is Brochard's first at the Vuelta and a return to the podium after serving a six-month suspension for doping offences uncovered at last year's Tour de France. Indeed, at 7am of this morning's stage, Brochard was one of 39 riders woken by UCI testers for drug testing.

Brochard completed the stage in 4.33.40 at an average speed of 40.76 kmh, with Camenzind (Lampre-Daikin), Nicola Miceli (Ita) Liquigas, Andrei Zintchenko (Rus) Vitalicio Seguros and Rolf Sörensen (Den) Rabobank closing to within three seconds at the finish.

In the GC, Spain's Abraham Olano (ONCE-Deutsche Bank) remains in the lead, with Jan Ullrich 2.08 in arrears. These two riders finished the stage just over three minutes behind Brochard, but there was no change to the overall GC.