ALMUSAFES, 12 September 2004 — Olympic champion Tyler Hamilton won the eighth stage of the Tour of Spain yesterday, a 40.1-km individual time trial. Fellow American Floyd Landis regained the overall lead.
Phonak rider Hamilton shrugged off an injured wrist and covered the course in 47 minutes 16 seconds, 15 seconds faster than Colombian Victor Hugo Pena of US Postal.
Landis finished third, three seconds down on his team mate Pena, but regained the overall lead to stand 10 seconds clear of another US Postal rider, Spain’s Manuel Beltran. Hamilton dedicated his victory to “everyone affected by the attacks of the 11th September 2001 which have changed the world.” The American, who lies third overall, 22 seconds down on Beltran, said: “As Olympic champion, anything less than victory would have been a disappointment.”
Nursing his injured right wrist from a crash on stage four, Hamilton, fourth overall in the 2003 Tour de France despite a broken collarbone. Hamilton has now won stages in all three major Tours, the first American to do so.
Landis named Spanish climbers Francisco Mancebo and Roberto Heras as key threats. Despite predicting he would lose four minutes to Hamilton in the time trial, Mancebo turned in a strong ride to finish only 57 seconds down and moved into fifth overall. Climber Heras did almost as well, losing just 1:37 to Hamilton and saying it was a “more than acceptable margin.” Stage nine is a 162-km foray into the high mountains, starting in Xativa and finishing on the Alto de Aitana.
