Ruta del Sol stages 2 and 3:

The 2nd and the 3rd stage of the Ruta del Sol,also known as Vuelta a Andalucia,saw the Saxo Bank riders getting good results once again.

The second stage of the race (the first one was won by Pardilla) saw Jesus Rosendo (team Andalucia-CajaSur) getting away alone after forming part of an initial move with Johnny Hoogerland (me really likes this guy) and Garikoitz Bravo (CajaRural).The brave Rosendo was caught after 100 kms of race and no one attacked during the second half of the race because of the strong wind.

With few kms to go,every team began to prepare the path for their sprinters.

Lots of people were probably expecting a Cavendish's victory,but the Manx boy is still suffering for a teeth problem and therefore he arrived "just" 4th.Because of this problem with his teeth,Cav rode just 300 kms since January (lots of other riders have ridden more than 2000 kms since the New Year's beginning) and he lost weight because he couldn't eat.Now things seem to go slightly better for Cav,although he has to wear dental braces.Me wore dental braces for 4 years in the past (also because of the already mentioned gap between my front teeth,a gap that still exists nowadays in spite of all the pain caused by that terrible thing),so I feel a bit sorry for Cav whose name,after all,doesn't appear in the list of riders that I can't bear at all (not yet,at least).

Anyway,going on with the race report,the winner of yesterday's stage was Oscar Freire. Richard,ehm,Robert Wagner was going to be the first rider to cross the finish-line,but he started celebrating too early and so Freire managed to win the stage.Poor Robert Wagner-I believe that we can't even imagine how annoyed he was yesterday afternoon...

Third in the sprint was Alex Ramussen,Saxo Bank's track rider,who got a very good result .

"As we entered the streets of Córdoba,I moved to the front of the peloton and teammate Jens Voigt guided me the last meters to Cavendish's wheel where I stayed until 500 meters from the finish line.I felt there was nothing to lose so I opened the sprint immediately and was only passed by Freire and Wagner Of course,it's a pleasure for me to beat the best sprinter in the world as I am still not feeling in peak shape.For a while,I have found it hard to get my real breakthrough on the road but today,I showed myself that everything is possible for me.Now, I am looking very much forward to do the Spring classics and the World Cup on the track which are this season's biggest events for me”,said Alex after the race.

5th in yesterday's stage was Ventoso,whereas Jens Voigt got an amazing 9th place and Schleck was 38th.

The 2nd stage was also characterised by a crash with 500 meters to go.In fact a barrier near to the finish-line fell into the riders' path because of the wind and caused a crash in which 6 riders were involved.Laurens Ten Dam suffered a cracked pelvis (ouch!!) and Jelle Vanendert suffered head,facial and knee injuries,whereas Damiano Cunego had a severe pain in his right forehand, although it seems that nothing's broken for the Italian rider.None of these 3 riders took part in today's stage.

Gerdemann was the first rider to fall and received some bruises,just like Kiendzys and Janiszewsky,2 Polish riders who were also involved in the fall.Anyway,they were luckier than their colleagues and managed to race also today.

3RD STAGE:

Although it wasn't completely flat,today's stage of the race was supposed to suit sprinters. Anyway Brice Feillu and José Marchante attacked on the first climb of the stage and were caught with 25 kms to go,after gaining a maximum advantage of 4 minutes.

Luckily during the sprint nobody crashed and the victory went to Oscar Freire for the second time in a row.Second was young Lampre's Slovakian rider Grega Bole,while third was the "climbing sprinter" Simon Gerrans.6th was His Amazingness Jens Voigt,who punctured with 30 kms to go and had to make a great effort trying to get in the peloton again.

Frank Schleck was 14th.The race leader is still Pardilla.

Tomorrow stage of the race is a TT,in which hopefully some SB riders will get a good result. With "some SB riders" I don't mean just Gustav Larsson (who is a TT specialist),but also Jens Voigt.After today's stage,Jens said: “Man,I am glad I stayed on my bike this time.I had a puncture with 60 km/h but managed to keep the balance.Soon after,André Steensen,Alex Rasmussen and Jakob Fuglsang were there to help me back to the front.Fortunately,I had a few kilometers to catch my breath before the slight uphill finish which actually suited me perfectly. Who knows what might have happened if I didn't have to close the gap? I am looking forward to tomorrow's time trial which is five kilometers along the coastline and back.I'll keep my head down and go full power.I am feeling stronger every day".Allez Jens!

(Pics by Bettini)