Although the first mountain stage of a Grand Tour is not usually responsible for revealing the identity of the final winner, it does often let race-followers know which riders won’t be in the overall running. Today’s stage was no exception, with three names standing out among the victims of La ...

Italian Danilo di Luca obtained a stage win and the overall race leadership today at La Covatilla, the first of La Vuelta 2006's five mountain finishes.

Di Luca fought it out at the finish with Brajkovic, the only rider capable of holding the Liquigas rider’s wheel on the final ascent. ...

La Covatilla, the first mountain finish in this year’s race, sees the "peloton" face an 18.2 kilometre climb with average and maximum gradients of 6.5% and 10.5%, respectively. The final eight kilometres to the finish, situated at 1960 metres above sea-level, are sure to prove the most difficult ...

Following yesterday’s stage victory, Erik Zabel returns to the headlines today following several seasons in which the German star has notched up numerous placings but very few outright wins.

“As” opens with “From Zabel to the mountains”, highlighting the fact that yesterday's stage ...

The 5th stage of this year’s Vuelta is sure to establish differences in the G.C., as the riders tackle the first serious mountain climbs and the first mountain finish. On the two previous occasions on which the La Covatilla has been included in the race, the climb was situated in the third week of ...