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Vuelta Stage 6 plus Other News

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Oscar Freire wins yet another final sprint today. He outran Spaniard Koldo Fernandez (who at least gave the locals something to cheer about), Angelo Furnan, Tom Boonen and Andre Koff for the win.  

Freire owns the points jersey, yet Vladimir Efimkin has stayed close enough to the lead to hang on to the golden jersey. Denis Menchov, Carlos Sastre, Maxime Monfort and Stijn Devolder round out the rest of the Top 5. Somehow, Freire is all the way down in 81st in the G.C. 

American Chris Horner moves up a little bit and is now in 28th place. 

Other news:
  • Johan Bruyneel confirms that he has been talking to team leadership at Astana about a position with their organization.  No firm date as to when he'll make a decision
  • The 44th Tour de Avenir starts today, with riders aged 19 to 22 organized in a national team format. 
  • In 2009, the Vuelta will start in the Netherlands, then through Belgium, and will not make its way to Spain until the 4th stage. 
  • Looks like the missed test situation with Alejandro Valverde is starting to resolve. The UCI admitted that they had made an error. 
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