Cycling Live

Vuelta a Espana - Cariñena-Zaragoza (TTI)

Live Comments

17:31 - Thanks for joining us today for the time trial. Be sure to follow the race tomorrow with the start of the Pyrenees.
16:22 - The new golden jersey is Stijn Devolder of Discovery, who holds a 30 second lead over Denis Menchov (Rabobank).
16:21 - So, victory for Germany's Bert Grabsch in today's time trial. Second was Bodrogi, third Devolder and fourth Menchov.
52km - Vladimir Efimkin is 18th fastest, 3'22" down. Not bad from the young Russian.
52km - Just Efimkin to arrive now... he's done himself proud, but he will be handing over the gold jersey to Devolder tonight.
52km - Sastre is just over four minutes down at the finish line. He has a lot of catching up to do in the Pyrenees...
52km - Menchov pushing hard to the end to limit his losses to Devolder. He takes 4th, 1'18" down on Grabsch. He lost 30 seconds to Devolder in the end.
52km - Maxime Monfort posts the 13th best time at the finish, exactly three minutes behind Grabsch. An unexpectedly good ride from the Belgian Cofidis rider.
48km - Menchov zips across a couple of roundabouts... he's four kilometres from the finish.
52km - Devolder powers down the final straight... He sets the 3rd best time, 48" down on Grabsch. A good time, but will it be enough to give him the yellow jersey tonight?
52km - Cadel Evans comes to the finish line to record the 9th best time, 2'20" down. He was much stronger over the second half of the route, but he still will be angry at having lost so much time.
52km - Menchov is now 16 seconds down on Devolder, who's entering Zaragoza amidst the applause of the supporters. A very good ride by the Disco rider.
52km - Baring a huge turnaround, Bert Grabsch, the German time trial champion, will win this one today quite convincingly.
40km - Carlos Sastre is out of his saddle trying to limit his loses, but he's lost contact with Menchov, who passed him for dead earlier.
52km - Pereiro crosses the finish line a huge 5'08" off the pace and down in 36th position. He has a lot of time to make up if he wants to feature in the overall classification.
40km - Menchov is tapering while Devolder is getting stronger... they are currently riding at the same time... this will be a good duel.
52km - Samuel Sanchez sets the 13th best time at the finish, 3'34" down on current leader Bert Grabsch, who has been out in front for quite a while now after that stirling early performance.
27km - Gold jersey Efimkin is last to go through the second check. He's in 19th, 1'29" down. So it's Menchov in virtual gold at the moment...
27km - Menchov is 28 seconds off Grabsch at the second check, sitting pretty in third. The Russian leaves Sastre in his wake, who's now over two minutes down on his rival.
27km - Menchov is catching Sastre, who's having to work hard to limit his losses.
27km - Maxime Monfort (Cofidis) of Belgium is having a storming ride. He's 16th fastest at the second check, 1'45" down, but admirable for someone not so suited to racing against the clock.
27 - Chavanel passes through the second checkpoint... down in 11th... not bad for Le Chav.
12km - Moment of truth for Efimkin... He's 46 seconds down in 17th at the first check. Not that dissimular from Evans' time.
27km - Evans is hovering at 36 seconds off the pace, so he's sped up somewhat. The Australian is out of his saddle in the dancing position.
12km - Stijn Devolder (Discovery) was 23 seconds down at the first check.
12km - Menchov's approaching the first checkpoint... Grabsch stays in the lead, but the Russian is only 9 seconds down on the German. This is promising.
27km - Pereiro is 2'57" down on Grabsch at the 27 km mark. Almost three minutes lost for the Spaniard!
12km - Sylvain Chavanel is in 6th at the 12km check, 33 seconds down. Not bad from the plucky Frenchman.
12km - Not good for Evans, who is 42 seconds down on Grabsch and in 10th position at the first check.
0km - Menchov, who won both time trials on the 2005 Vuelta, starts and is followed by the final rider out of the block - Vladimir Efimkin. It will take a titanic performance from the Russian to keep hold of his gold jersey today.
0km - Carlos Sastre's just started. So, just Menchov and Efimkin to come.
52km - A recap on the top five at the finish: 1. Grabsch, 57.05 minutes, 2. Bodrogi, at 34", 3. Backstedt, at 1'37", 4. Jason McCartney, at 1'55", 5. Champion, at 2'15".
0km - CORRECTION: Cadel Evans has just started. The Australian is only just on the course, looking to push himself back into overall contention.
0km - Sean Kelly thinks there should be some trucks on the road to make it more fun. David Harmon agrees.
27km - Luis Sanchez comes over the 27 km check 1'42" off the pace, which is not good for the Caisse d'Epargne rider's chances of making the Spanish world championships time trial squad.
0km - Oscar Pereiro and Cadel Evans are out there now.
12km - As Sean Kelly, Eurosport commentator, says: "This stage is a real boring one." It's pretty much a straight, down hill line all the way to the finish in Zaragoza. No big turns, no high rises...
12km - The roads are in pristine condition: they are using a resurfaced motorway and it is probably the best surface ever seen in the Vuelta, not renowned for it's un-pot-holes roads. Karpets passes the first check point in eight position, 44 seconds down on Grabsch's 13'49".
14:52 - Vladimir Karpets is on course now, as is Jose Angel Gomez Marchante and Samuel Sanchez.
0km - Copy and paste this link into your browser for the Eurosport LIVE AUDIO: http://eurosport.yahoo.com/embedvideo.html?p=cycling/livematch/172387
12km - Schumacher is 23 seconds off the pace at the first check, in fourth.
0km - Time trial specialist Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) is on course now.
12km - Luis Sanchez (Euskaltel) is 49 seconds down at the first time check.
52km - Bert Grabsch is the new provisional leader after coming over the line 34 seconds to the better of Laszlo Bodrogi.
40km - At the 40km mark, Grabsch has increased his lead over Bodrogi to 39 seconds.
0km - Paolo Bettini and Luis Leon Sanchez Gil have started...
0km - A few ins-and-outs about the choice of gears for the riders. Most have chosen 54-teeth chainrings, whereas those competing for the overall, such as Oscar Pereiro and Davide Rebellin have opted for 55-teeth rings. The big time trial specialists Â– Devolder, Schumacher and Garate Â– have gone for 56-teeth rings for that extra power.
52km - The top five at the finish so far are: 1. Bodrogi (CA), 2. Backstedt (Liquigas), 3. Dimitri Champion (Bouygues), 4. Santos Gonzalez (Karpin Galicia), 5. Tom Boonen (QuickStep).
27km - Bert Grabsch of T-Mobile is currently the fastest man out there, beating Bodrogi at the first two time checks. At the 27 km mark, he's 12 seconds ahead.
52km - At the finish, Bodrogi beat the time of Backstedt to take provisional pole. The Hungarian set a time of 57.39 minutes over the 52 km course, 1'03" ahead of Backstedt.
40km - Bodrogi has 40 seconds on Backstedt at the final time check before the finish.
0km - Damiano Cunego's on course now. The Italian crashed heavily in the second stage and is out of contention for the overall standings.
40km - Backstedt in the lead at the 40km mark. Bodrogi has yet to come through.
27km - At the next check, Bodrogi has increased his lead to 27 seconds over the Swede Backstedt.
12km - Laszlo Bodrogi is the fastest man at the 12km check. The Credit Agricole star has eight seconds on Backstedt.
27km - At the 27km check, Backstedt is the reference, with the Australian McGee an astonishing 2'02" down.
12km - The early pace setter at the 12 kilometre check point is Magnus Backstedt, of Liquigas. Bradley McGee, the FdJeux time trial specialist who was tipped to star today, is having a shocker and trails the big Swede by 54 seconds.
13:45 - The first rider to start today was France's Vincent Jerome (Bouygues), who is currently in last position in the overall standings.
13:43 - Gold jersey Vladimir Efimkin will leave the starting gate last, at 15:19 UK time.
13:42 - There's going to be hot sun for all the riders out there today, with temperatures reaching 30 degrees. A northwesterly wind will hit the riders from their left.
13:40 - The 52 kilometre course today has a gradual downhill gradient and should suit pure time trialists. Leon Sanchez and Bradley McGee should figure.
13:37 - Overnight leader, the Russian Vladimir Efimkin, will find it hard to keep hold of the gold jersey tonight. Discovery channel's Stijn Devolder is lying in wait, as is Cadel Evans of Australia, who will hope to bounce back from his bonk in the mountains on Tuesday and post a strong time here today.
13:30 - Hello and welcome to coverage of the individual time trial from Carinena to Zaragoza.