Heras flies, Sevilla hits jackpot

Roberto Heras (US Postal) displayed supreme climbing skills to capture stage six of the Tour of Spain on Thursday. Fellow Spaniard and Kelme rider Oscar Sevilla's third place finish was enough to secure the golden leader's jersey.

RE-LIVE: Vuelta stage six

Finishing second in Thursday's 153.1-kilometre stage was Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) at 18 seconds, with Sevilla crossing the line third with the same time. Rounding out the top five were Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom), each at 18 and 48 seconds respectively.

Stage six was a virtual repeat of Wednesday's opening mountain stage, with a group 16 riders taking the lead at the 5 kilometre mark. Starting in Granada and finishing on the 1,840-metre-high summit of Sierra de La Pandera, riders were keen to break away early and establish a premature advantage.

Like yesterday's doomed escape group, the 16-man lead pack held onto their command until the foot of the final climb. Following various attacks and counter-attacks, the peloton eventually regained control and the favourites resumed their positions.

With 8.3 km of climbing to the summit finish, reaching as steep a gradient as 15 per cent, stage six essentially began for many riders at km 144. Heras paced himself to perfection, only deciding to impose his attack at the 149-km mark. As expected, the Spaniard's rivals weren't able to respond to his blistering pace.

Simoni, however, was impressive and did much of the early front-running thanks to a powerful Saeco squad. The Italian's performance moved him into 10th place overall but he can count on improving his standing if he continues his run of form.

Mikel Zarrabeitia's reign in gold only lasted for one day and the ONCE rider was forced to surrender his 'oro' jersey to fellow compatriot Sevilla, who now leads the overall standings by 14 seconds. Second place belongs to Vinokourov while Heras has moved into third (at 39").

Friday the 13th marks a lucky day for the sprinters, who face a flat stage seventh stage. Live coverage begins at 14.30cet.