A second consecutive stage win for Spaniard Santiago Perez in the Tour of Spain propelled him into third place overall tonight.
After a lone win yesterday in Granada, Perez clocked the fastest time of one hour two minutes and 29 seconds to claim the 15th stage, a 29.6 km mountain time trial to Sierra Nevada.
The Phonak rider was fastest in all of the intermediate time splits and beat his closest pursuer CV-Kelme's Alejandro Valverde by one minute and seven seconds at the finish.
Third place was taken by race leader Roberto Heras of Liberty Seguros who was a below-expectation 1:51 back and is now only five seconds ahead of second-placed Valverde overall.
Italian Alessandro Petacchi, who had won four stages of the Tour this year, all in bunch sprints, pulled out before stage 15 because of concerns about tendinitis in his arm.
Perez, who has jumped from eighth to third overall in two days, said: "Now I can include myself in the group of favourites and want at least to stay on the podium."
"I will have a harder time getting away now, like I did on the stage to Granada, but I will try to win again on the two mountain top stage finishes left before Madrid."
Filed by Mark O'Neill-Cummins
