Boom wins solo ahead of escape group

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Dutchman Lars Boom (Rabobank) soloed to win Vuelta a España's 15th stage to Córdoba today. He attacked his escape companions over the day's final climb and finished with 1:35 over Spaniard David Herrero (Xacobeo Galicia). Milram's Dominik Roels finished third, eight seconds later. Alejandro Valverde's gold jersey was never endangered.

"I finally had my right moment," said Boom. "Our group had time on the favourites and I planned my move."

Boom, 23, was part of a successful 13-man escape group that formed after one hour of racing. He attacked out of the group on the second of two ascents of the San Jerónimo, at kilometre 22.1. He held 1:46 at the top ahead of solo chaser Herrero.

He admitted, "It was very good in the finale. The first time over the climb I felt very well, but was still a bit unsure of the others. But they weren't strong enough the second time around." Even Boom was surprised at himself. "I'm surprised at how well I feel after two weeks in this difficult race."

Boom, 23, is only his first ProTour year, having ridden with the Rabobank developmental team since 2004. In the past he has concentrated on cyclo-cross, winning the world titles in 2008 as an elite, 2007 as U-23 and 2003 as a junior.

This season, though, he turned his attention to the road. Boom didn't have many top finishes this season, but won the Tour of Belgium, with one second and one third-place stage finish.

The win put Rabobank into the elite group of teams to have won a stage in all three Grand Tour this year. Denis Menchov won two stages at the Giro d'Italia as well as the overall title, and Juan Manuel Garate took a stage at the Tour de France.

The main group of race leader Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) finished 25 minutes after Boom, where Columbia-HTC's Andre Greipel took the sprint for 14th to gain two points in the green jersey competition. Greipel trails Valverde in the points classification by four points after judges penalised him 25 points on stage 13 for missing the time cut.

Spaniard Valverde kept the race leader's gold jersey he took last Monday on the mountain stage to Xorret del Catí. He leads the race by 31 seconds on Gesink, 1:10 on Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), 1:28 on Ivan Basso (Liquigas), 1:51 on Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and 1:54 on Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia).

All 155 riders were at the start this midday, and shortly after they took off, the rain started as well. Numerous attacks were launched but none was able to establish itself as the peloton set a fast pace of 48.9 km/h in the first hour.

After 66 km, however, a group was finally able to establish a lead. Lars Boom (Rabobank), Dominik Roels (Milram), Serafin Martinez (Xacobeo Galicia), Christian Meier (Garmin-Slipstream), Leonardo Duque (Cofidis), Vicente Reynes (Columbia-HTC), Alexandr Kolobnev (Saxo Bank), Alexander Efimkin (Ag2r), Martin Velits (Milram), David Herrero (Xacobeo), Maxim Iglinsky (Astana) and Olivier Kaisen (Silence-Lotto) were the lucky twelve to get away, and were eventually joined by Mathieu Ladagnous (Francaise des Jeux).

Once the break was established, the peloton relaxed and let them go. Herrero was the highest place of the group, and since he was over an hour down, he wasn't considered a great threat.

The gap grew and grew, reaching over 19 minutes with 50 km to go, and making it obvious that the group would stay away.

With 25 km to go, the attacks out of the escape group started to splinter the group, and the second climb of the San Jeronimo finished it off – the group fell completely apart. Within a few kilometres, Boom took off on a solo flight. He quickly gained over half a minute on his former escape companions. Herrero was the only one to seriously chase, and although he was able to get away from the group, he was not able to endanger the Dutch rider.

Boom, 2008 world cyclo-cross champion and U-23 world time-trial champion, used all his skills on the final ascent and pulled steadily away from the less carefully riding Herrero. Boom went over the San Jeronimo for the second time 53 seconds ahead of Herrero, with the peloton over 20 minutes down.

There was a scary moment near the end, as the chasing Herrero cut an inside corner too close and ended up going off the road with just over 5 km to go. He was able to catch himself in the nick of time and keep on chasing.

The young Dutchman rode slowly and happily over the finish line, arms raised high in triumph. He was followed 1:36 later by Herrero. Roels had managed to get away from the rest of the group and finished third, only eight seconds behind Herrero.

The peloton was way back by this time, but thing picked up on the final descent. Samuel Sanchez moved to the head of things, sparking off fears that he would try to get away to pick up some time on Valverde. All the favourites then moved to the front as they flew along, and Caisse d'Epargne moved back to the lead.

The group finally crossed the finish line exactly 25 minutes after Boom did, with Columbia's Andre Greipel sprinting to finish 14th and take two points in an effort to regain the green points jersey.

The race continues tomorrow with a 170.3-kilometre stage from Córdoba to Puertollano. It features two category three climbs, the Alto de los Villares and the Puerto de la Chimorra, in the first 50 kilometres. The stage should suit escapees or sprinters.

The race ends Sunday, September 20 in Madrid.