Vuelta a España 2008/15. stage

Result of the 15th stage
First		David García	XAG	5:02:27 h
Second		Nick Nuyens	COF	+ 0:17 min
Third		Juan Manuel Gárate	QST	equal time
Fourth		Paolo Tiralongo	LAM	+ 0:33 min
fifth		Mikel Astarloza	EUS	+ 0:36 min
Sixth		David Arroyo	GCE	+ 0:39 min
seventh		Matti Breschel	CSC	+ 1:38 min
Eighth		Xabier Zandio	GCE	equal time
Ninth		Philippe Gilbert	FDJ	+ 1:39 min
Tenth		Sébastien Minard	COF	+ 2:38 min
Intermediate results after the 15th stage
Overall rating		Alberto Contador	AST	61:13:48 h
Second		Levi Leipheimer	AST	+ 1:17 min
Third		Carlos Sastre	CSC	+ 3:41 min
Scoring		Alberto Contador	AST	110 p.
Second		Greg van Avermaet	SIL	99 P.
Third		Alejandro Valverde	GCE	99 P.
Mountain scoring		David Moncoutié	COF	127 P.
Second		Alberto Contador	AST	84 P.
Third		Christophe Kern	CA	80 p.
Combination scoring		Alberto Contador	AST	4 p.
Second		Levi Leipheimer	AST	14 p.
Third		Ezequiel Mosquera	XAG	17 p.
Team evaluation		Caisse d'Epargne	GCE	183: 12: 52 h
Second		Team Astana	AST	+ 29:07 min
Third		Euskaltel-Euskadi	EUS	+ 34:11 min

The 6th stage of the Vuelta a España 2008 on September 15th led over 202 kilometers from Cudillero to Ponferrada . There were two sprint classifications and one mountain classification each in the 3rd, 2nd and 1st category on the program.

Again it took just under an hour for a group to break away from the field, but it was all the bigger and consisted of 17 drivers: Xabier Zandio , David Arroyo , Nick Nuyens , Sébastien Minard , Juan Manuel Gárate , Philippe Gilbert , Heinrich Haussler , Mikel Astarloza , Matti Breschel , Mikhail Ignatiev , José Luis Arrieta , Paolo Tiralongo , Theo Eltink , Alessandro Vanotti , Olivier Bonnaire , Pieter Jacobs and David García . The peloton saw no danger in these riders and so let them be. The group stayed together until about 40 kilometers from the finish. Arrieta attacked here at the penultimate mountain classification and pulled away for almost a minute, but was caught up again before the last mountain classification. The stage was decided on an ascent of up to ten percent that was not marked with a mountain rating. With Nuyens, Arroyo, Gárate and García four drivers took off. García attacked three kilometers from the finish, it was the decisive attack. Nick Nuyens finished second in a two-man sprint with Gárate. Ultimately, the field was over 14 minutes behind the day's winner.

tasks

• 005 Juan José Haedo
• 071 Patrice Halgand
• 122 Alessandro Ballan
• 152 Mauricio Ardila
• 173 Artur Gajek

Sprint ratings

• 1st intermediate sprint in Villablino (102.6 km) (1,020 m above sea level)

First		Theo Eltink	RAB	4 p.
Second		Philippe Gilbert	FDJ	2 p.
Third		Nick Nuyens	COF	1 P.

• 2nd intermediate sprint in Vega de Espinareda (km 157.4) (625 m above sea level)

First		Philippe Gilbert	FDJ	4 p.
Second		Paolo Tiralongo	LAM	2 p.
Third		Sébastien Minard	COF	1 P.

• Finish in Ponferrada (520 m above sea level)

First		David García	XAG	25 p.
Second		Nick Nuyens	COF	20 p.
Third		Juan Manuel Gárate	QST	16 p.
Fourth		Paolo Tiralongo	LAM	14 p.
fifth		Mikel Astarloza	EUS	12 p.
Sixth		David Arroyo	GCE	10 p.
seventh		Matti Breschel	CSC	9 p.
Eighth		Xabier Zandio	GCE	8 p.
Ninth		Philippe Gilbert	FDJ	7 p.
Tenth		Sébastien Minard	COF	6 p.
11.		Olivier Bonnaire	BTL	5 p.
12.		José Luis Arrieta	ALM	4 p.
13.		Mikhail Ignatiev	TCS	3 p.
14th		Alessandro Vanotti	LIQ	2 p.
15th		Pieter Jacobs	SIL	1 P.

Mountain ratings

• Puerto de Somiedo, 1st category (km 80) (1,480 m above sea level)

First		Juan Manuel Gárate	QST	16 p.
Second		Sébastien Minard	COF	12 p.
Third		José Luis Arrieta	ALM	10 p.
Fourth		Paolo Tiralongo	LAM	8 p.
fifth		Matti Breschel	CSC	6 p.
Sixth		David García Dapena	XAG	4 p.
seventh		Heinrich Haussler	GST	3 p.
Eighth		Mikhail Ignatiev	TCS	2 p.
Ninth		Philippe Gilbert	FDJ	1 P.

• Alto del Corral de los Lobos, 2nd category (km 140.5) (1,180 m above sea level)

First		David Arroyo	GCE	10 p.
Second		Juan Manuel Gárate	QST	7 p.
Third		Paolo Tiralongo	LAM	5 p.
Fourth		David García	XAG	3 p.
fifth		Sébastien Minard	COF	2 p.
Sixth		Olivier Bonnaire	BTL	1 P.

• Alto de Ocero, 3rd category (kilometer 162) (885 m above sea level)

First		José Luis Arrieta	ALM	6 p.
Second		Philippe Gilbert	FDJ	4 p.
Third		David Arroyo	GCE	2 p.
Fourth		Juan Manuel Gárate	QST	1 P.