2008 Vuelta a España: Live Updates – Stage 3

to VeloNews.com’s Live Coverage of the third stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 168.6-kilometer ride from Jaen to Cordoba.

Today’s stage covers more of the dry, hilly territory in Spain’s olive country. While much of today’s route is punctuated by rolling terrain, there is only on rated climb – the Category 3 ascent of the Alto de San Jeronimo, 26km from the finish.

The climb may just be enough to make life difficult for the sprinters in the peloton and we might see a strong attack from the likes of a Bettini, or Flecha. Speaking of Bettini, he’s the the last winner of a stage that finished in Cordoba. The year before, a stage that also went over the San Jeronimo, Leonardo Bertagnolli (Cofidis) took the stage.

Of course, that’s all history now. Today’s stage offers a new set of challenges and we’ll be here to follow all of the action all the way to Cordoba.

Have left the start, with an official stat time of 1:43 p.m. The third stage of the 2008 Vuelta is now underway and there has already been an attack by a rider from Andalucia-Cajasur.

to today’s stage, Manuel Ortega (Andalucia-Cajasur) has managed to get a gap on the initial climb.

has about a minute on the main field.

Ortega has upped his lead to 4:03.

The Vuelta is often characterized by long break-away efforts like this. They don’t always succeed, but now and then (like Dave Zabriskie’s solo flyer in 2004) they actually do work.

If you have a comment, question or even a complaint, feel free to hit the “Contact our editors” link below the Live Update Window. We promise to read them all, answer as many as we can and even post a few during today’s coverage.

Ortega has upped his advantage to 6:30. The man from Jaen must have been hoping to thrill his hometown crowd with an early attack. Will he make it? We won’t bet the rent, but he’s off to a good start.

the pace in the peloton remains relaxed. Ortega is ticking along nicely on his own, while the Caisse d’Epargne team of race leader Valverde is setting a moderate tempo at the front of the field. No one appears to be too worried about the Ortega attack … they currently appear to be content with allowing the long road, warm temperatures and exposed terrain to let this fella fade over the next 140+km

It really is hot out there today. There are only moderate winds, but temperatures are already quite high – more than 100f (40c). But as they say, it’s a dry heat. Today’s high is expected to be 106f. A cooker.

Ortega is making his way through the hilly, olive-grove-lined roads to Cordoba. We’re looking for a new time check, but suffice it to say, he’s well ahead of a fairly casual main field.

They really don’t care about this guy. Ortega, a three-year pro without a win to his name, seems not to have caused a wave of panic in the peloton. He’s at 32km and already has 11:10 on the main field.

for Manuel Ortega Ocana. He’s riding on his own on hot roads and is now holding on to a substantial 12:00 lead. We hope he has his iPod or something to keep him entertained out there.

He has a helluva gap. Can he keep this up? The crew from Caisse d’Epargne doesn’t seem to worried.

Ortega covered just 40.6km in the opening hour of the stage. That means that the peloton, now about 12-and-a-half minutes back is lollygagging at a much, much slower pace.

Our man in Spain, Andrew Hood, found out a few days ago that the Saxo-Bank team will be riding Specialized bicycles next season. That has now been confirmed with the formal announcement that Specialized will be the official supplier of complete bikes and shoes to Riis Cycling/Team Saxo Bank for at least three years.

There have been plenty of bike switches recently, including Scott’s jump from being title sponsor of the team formerly known as Saunier-Duval to the Columbia squad for next year.

Tyler Hamilton won the U.S. Pro road championship yesterday. We’ve already received letters both praising and bemoaning the win.

Well, you have a chance to weigh in. We have a poll on the front page. Let us know how you feel.

our lone escapee has an advantage of 13:30. Impressive as that is, he’s already lost a minute-and-a-half of his lead, as he topped out at 15:05 a few kilometers back.

the gap is holding at 13:45. Ortega is still cruising along and the peloton seems almost bored.

Ortega’s lead is still massive, but 13:40, with nearly 100km remaining may not be enough.

The peloton is picking up the pace. Two hours in the saddle and Ortega is still averaging around 40kph. The Caisse d’Epargne team is moving up the tempo, but the gap is still 13:00.

Ortega is riding along at about 39kph. The peloton is picking up the pace slightly and the gap is down to 12:20.

In case you’re wondering, race promoters hand out time tables for these things, usually predicting times, based on projected speeds. We’re well below the slowest of those.

Ortega is still looking good out there. The peloton is maintaining a moderate pace. The gap is still in the 12-minute range.

the peloton is coming through the feedzone, doing so 11:22 behind Ortega.

Talking about yesterday’s stage, race favorite Alberto Contador said that the fnish was tense.

“With 40 kilometers to go, the tension raised, with Liquigas trying to control, but also with a lot of people trying to finish in first positions. We all arrived there with a lot of reserve forces. In the last two kilometers it was hard to stay in the front. Everybody knew that a lot of seconds could be lost or won.”

It’s in the mid-90s out there right now. It’s still very dry, and there is no wind.

Caisse d’Epargne is back at the front of the field after the lunch break.

Milram keeps adding to its roster, announcing today that extended its contract with captain Christian Knees through 2010. In addition, it announced three newcomers for the coming season: Johannes Frohlinger, Matthias Russ and Thomas Rohregger.

Bettini has flatted off the back – he won here in 2006. Let’s see if the Cricket still has his kick.

Lampre and Liquigas are lending a hand. The gap is dropping, although Ortega is still 10:23 ahead of the field. He has 68km to go.

Ortega is still 10:14 ahed of the main field. This poor fella has been out there for 108km so far.

While a good portion of the pro peloton has been involved in changing bike sponsors for the year ahead, the Garmin boys will be on Felt again next year.

the gap has finally dropped below 10 minutes. The peloton has really ramped up the pace over the last ten kilometers, as Ortega works his way through Spain’s big empty.

with 55km to go, the gap is down to 9:30.

Ortega is beginning to look tired, pedaling squares.

is losing time. He has a 5.5km lead over the field. He’s 9:16 ahead of the peloton.

Eusebio Unzue – DS Caisse d’Epagne – says he is really pleased with the way the Vuelta has gone for his team.

“These kinds of finishes like we saw yesterday are perfect for Alejandro. We were hoping to do well, but after the team rode so well in the TTT, we knew that would go achieve the double – that is, win the stage and take the jersey. It was a spectacular start of the Vuelta for us.”

is still doing the ulk of the chase work, but both Lampre and Liquigas have put a rider up front.

Continues to plow ahead. He’s 45km from the finish and still has 9:00 lead over the peloton.

That nine minutes can evaporate pretty quickly, especially since this fella is beginning to look a little tired.

He’s in Cordoba right now, but still faces a big loop that will take him out of town and back.

Katoucha has just signed Vladimir Karpets and Robbie McEwen, the Russian team announced. The squad – organized by Oleg Tinkov – has already penned deals with Filippo Pozzato and Gert Steegmans.

the gap is down to 7:47.

It looks like Ortega is going to make it up the Cat. 3 San Jeronimo climb that is coming up in a few kilometers. When the peloton hits it, the climb should liven things up, since it crests just 26km from the finish.

and Ortega is on the slopes of the climb. He’s losing time, but he’s likely to make it to the top before getting caught. He’s now 6:55 ahead of the field.

is taking over the work at the front. Silence Lotto is moving up a couple of riders, too.

He’s now 5:56 ahead of the main field and is about 35km from the finish.

on the climb. He’s up the pace trying to shed sprinters more than just escape.

Bettini is riding away from the field. He’s rid himself of the riders who tried to follow. We wonder if he intended that.

Anyway, Ortega is now 5:06 ahead of Bettini.

has joined Bettini. The world champ and the CSC rider are about 12 seconds ahead of the field.

Up front, Ortega is 4:49 ahead of Bettini.

Has been dropped by Bettini.

Ortega is over the top of the climb. He still has a few kilometers of rollers ahead of him before the final drop into town.

Ortega is now 4:04 ahead of Bettini.

chasing hard over the top. He’s now 3:45 behind Ortega.

We did make an error. Neither Ortega, nor Bettini, are over the top of the OFFICIAL KOM mark. It’s hard to spot the official spot, but Ortega has 28km to go and the KOM his 26km from the finish. There are quite a number of rollers on this climb and the KOM placement is rather arbitrary.

is now over the top of the climb. That means he’s 26km from the finish and he still has a few rollers ahead of him. He will be rewarded with a nice 16km descent to the finish. He just might be able to pull this thing off. Now that he’s been on the attack for 140+ km, we’re rootin for him.

Ortega is now 2:50 ahead of Bettini and then the peloton is another 54 seconds behind the world champ.

He is now just 1:45 behind Ortega.

He’s 24.3km from the finish… he’s still climbing (although he’s passed the KOM) and he’s out there dying on the vine. Bettini, meanwhile, is ticking along nicely. He may be caught too, though. He’s less than a minute ahead of the field.

from Cofidis is trying to bridge up to Bettini. The Cofidis rider was on the attack yesterday.

Now Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) is on the attack and chasing Moncoutie.

is closing in on Ortega. He’s now 1:05 back. He still has a nice little gap on the two chasers – Moncoutie and Flecha.

Ortega is really struggling. The terrain over the past few kilometers has really taken its toll.

Flecha, meanwhile, has been pulled back by the peloton.

and Bettini has caught Ortega. He blasted right past the Spaniard, but Ortega has fought back.

Behind, Moncoutie has been reeled in.

with Bettini as the road tips up again. He is about to be caught by Sylvain Chavanel, who has attacked out of the field. Poor Ortega.

are chasing Bettini. They are 26 seconds behind… and here comes the peloton.

Okay, they’re caught and now the peloton is only 26 seconds behind Bettini, with 15km to go.

to go, Bettini is just 20 seconds up the road. He’s looking over his shoulder and soft-pedaling, so it’s over.

The field is all together.

The speed is high over these final kilometers.

We see some real sprinting talent in the bunch. Boonen is in there, so is Valverde… we think we see Zabel, too.

the peloton is all together and the teams are looking around to see how things may shape up.

He may have been caught, but he wasn’t dropped. He was out on the attack for more than 150km, but he’s managing to hang on in the field.

in the bunch. With 5.5km to go, it looks like the majority of the top sprinters made the cut on the climb. We see Freire in this group of around 70 riders. We also see Zabel, Boonen, Bennati.

With 4km to go, the peloton is still together.

is hanging around the front of the field. Is he going to take another dig? If so, where?

CSC is moving up.

attacks… with about 2.5km to go.

is digging deep. He’s got a nice little gap. Let’s see if he has enough to hold on. Quick Step and Liquigas are chasing.

Here comes Liquigas…. 1km to go

is leading out for Boonen…. and Bennati goes…. Boonen, grabs the win!

Tom Boonen gets the victory.

gets the victory. He finishes ahead of

1. Tom Boonen, (BEL), Quick Step
2. Daniele Bennati, (ITA), Liquigas3. Erik Zabel (G), Milram