Pereiro: Hot and boring

Tour de France runner-up and victor-in-waiting (pending the outcome of the disciplinary process against Floyd Landis for his testosterone positive) was unimpressed with the was the third stage of the Vuelkta unfolded. "The stage was a very long one and to tell you the truth in a way a boring one because everything happened exactly as everybody expected: a long breakaway and a massive sprint," he said in a team newsletter.

Another factor shaped the stage as well as the predictable racing, according to Periero, and it will have effects for the next couple of days. "The heat was terrible during the whole stage," said Periero, "and I think that many riders will pay the consequences, probably already the day after tomorrow in the first mountain stage that ends at the top of la Covatilla. Personally I tolerate such high temperatures rather well but of course that it affects me too, like everybody."