With the heart of a warrior and the squeaky voice of a teen-ager, Erik Zabel proved he still has a few victories left in his 36-year-old legs.

The German veteran profited from a strong setup from the Milram train to score his first grand-tour victory since the 2003 Vuelta, relegating the younger generation to the runner-up status to which he has lately become so accustomed.
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"Today I am very happy because the whole team worked for me and it’s good to see the train is working better and better," said Zabel after notching just his second win of the season. "I am very happy with this victory."

Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) was relegated to runner-up status but retained the overall lead, now 27 seconds ahead of Zabel, going into Wednesday’s first mountaintop finish at La Covatilla.

Zabel’s last stage victory in a major, three-week tour was in the 11th stage of the 2003 Vuelta. Since then, he’s been oh-so-close so many times. This season alone, Zabel has finished second or third some 22 times, beginning with the Tour of Qatar in January and continuing right through the Vuelta.

That might be enough for some riders to throw their hands up in frustration, but Zabel says he loves the game too much to walk away.

"What keeps me racing is that I enjoy every day the finish and the sprints," he said. "I need to keep feeling that adrenalin in my belly and in my head. I think I need this thing."

Depending on whom you ask, Zabel has won either 203 or 195 races in his career. Even he wasn’t sure, "so it must be in the middle somewhere."

In his glory days, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was the dominant sprinter in the game and could reel off 15 to 20 wins a season. Last fall, he scored a big victory at Paris-Tours. But this year, he had won just once, at the Bayern Rundfahrt back in May.

"These wins mean more to me now than they did when they were coming easier," he admitted. "It’s different now when I win after getting so many second and third places. It’s a special feeling."

Short appetizer before mountains
Zabel’s win highlighted the shortest road stage of the 2006 Vuelta. Once again, heat was the protagonist as temperatures climbed back into the 100s.

Flats seemed to be on the prowl as well — Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) and Andrey Kashechkin (Astana) all punctured. It appeared Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) might have punctured as well, late in the stage, but he was given the same time as the main pack.

Given the conditions, no one was eager to follow an early solo move by Raúl García (Relax-GAM), who took off just 2km into the rolling stage across the sun-baked plains of Spain’s western Extremadura region. His gap never got higher than seven minutes and he was duly reeled in with 10km to go set up the mass gallop.

Milram took control in the closing kilometers, with the recovering Alessandro Petacchi lending a hand setting up the sprint along with Alberto Ongarato, Fabio Sacchi and Marco Velo.

"The last kilometer looked complicated, but it wasn’t too bad," Zabel said. "There was a U-turn with 1km to go, but it was wide open. I felt good today and the team worked really well for me."

The tables have been turned for Petacchi, who is recovering from a broken kneecap suffered at the Giro d’Italia. Zabel left his longtime home at Telekom/T-Mobile last season to join Milram, mostly as an assistant to Petacchi, but since Ale-Jet’s crash, Zabel has been forced to step back onto center stage.

"In the beginning of the year I was expecting to work for Petacchi, but he had a bad crash and things changed for me and I had more pressure in the Tour de France and Tour of Germany," he said. "The idea was that I was going to help Alessandro, the rider who was most often beating me the past few years."

Zabel also confirmed he plans to start the world championships. "Maybe it’s true the course isn’t ideal for me, but maybe I can take my chance."

It was the third straight sprint finish with a relatively surprising winner. Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Francisco Ventoso (Saunier Duval) delivered tidy wins in stage two and three ahead of favorites Hushovd and Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), who finished ninth into Cáceres.

First summit looms
The Vuelta will change gears Wednesday for the first of five summit finishes in this year’s mountainous edition. Riders aren’t sure what to expect in the four-climb hump to the Covatilla ski area, high in the Gredos mountains above Béjar.

"The team is feeling good and motivated," said Discovery Channel’s Michael Barry before Tuesday’s stage. "Everyone is focusing on helping Tom (Danielson). We think he can finish on the podium, so we have to help him get up these mountains. We have (Manuel) Beltrán and Janez Brajkovic for the big climbs."

All eyes will be on the Spanish mountain goats to step up on home roads, with many observers tapping Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) as the rider most capable of blowing open the race. The often-inconsistent Mayo seems to be back after another up-and-down season, winning the Tour of Burgos and the Subida de Urkiola earlier this month.

"We’ll see how it goes. If I feel good, I will try to take advantage of the opportunity," said Mayo, who said he still hasn’t signed a contract for next season. "The legs feel good, but you never know until you hit the climbs. There are a lot of riders who could be good. We’ll see what happens."

Caisse d’Epargne will go with the one-two punch of Valverde and Tour de France runner-up Oscar Pereiro as co-leaders. Pereiro has already said he’ll gladly work for Valverde if his legs don’t respond after a month of post-Tour celebrations and media obligations following the Floyd Landis doping scandal.

Valverde, meanwhile, said he expects the heat to play a major factor. The final 6km of the climb are wide open and offer no protection from wind or sun.

"I think some riders will suffer from the heat," Valverde said. "I don’t think this stage will be so decisive. There remain some hard climbs, including La Cobertoria (in stage nine), which is the hardest of these first three climbs we have on tap this week."

What’s sure is the likes of Zabel and Hushovd will step back to let the overall contenders start their high-altitude sparring match.

Top 10
1. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, 3:24:46
2. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, same time
3. Jean-Patrick Nazon (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, s.t.
4. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC, s.t.
5. Francisco José Ventoso (Sp), Saunier Duval, s.t.
6. Bernhard Eisel (A), Française des Jeux, s.t.
7. André Greipel (G), T-Mobile, s.t.
8. Paolo Bettini (I), Quick Step-Innergetic, s.t.
9. Robbie Mcewen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, s.t.
10. Luca Paolini (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, s.t.

Overall
1. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, 7:51:34
2. Erik Zabel (G), Milram
3. Paolo Bettini (I), Quick Step-Innergetic, 0:14
4. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC, 0:19
5. Lars Ytting Bak (Dk), CSC, 0:19
6. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor), CSC, 0:19
7. Nicki Sorensen (Dk), CSC, 0:19
8. Marcus Ljungqvist (Swe), CSC, 0:19
9. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 0:19
10. Iñigo Cuesta (Sp), CSC, 0:19
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