Rasmussen nails time trial win

Track specialist Alex Rasmussen (Saxo Bank) proved he's reaching prime form ahead of the World Championships by besting the Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins in the 10,9 kilometer time trial in Malaga on the fourth stage of Vuelta Andalucia Ruta del Sol.

Rasmussen put five seconds into Team Sky's Wiggins, coming in as the only rider to break 13 minutes at 12:59. His teammate Jens Voigt, chasing a podium position in the overall, fell just one second short of getting ahead of former GC leader Sergio Pardilla (Carmiooro NGC).

”It was an amazing experience to follow Alex from the car today. I knew Wiggins' intermediates and I knew he was the man to beat and Alex was a few seconds better than him most of the way. In the overall position, Jens (Voigt) was only one second away from the podium and it surely would have put the icing on the cake to have finished third overall as well. But make no mistake, it was a good day for us”, said Saxo Bank director, Kim Andersen.

Australian Michael Rogers came in fourth on the stage, but rocketed up the GC into first overall, now 19 seconds ahead of Omega Pharma-Lotto's Jurgen Van den Broeck.

"It's been a long time since I led a stage race. I think the last time was in the Tour of Switzerland back in 2005, so it's good to be back on the podium again," Rogers said.

"I'm very happy. I worked hard this winter and changed just about everything I could training-wise, and it seems like the training changes have been working. I had quite good condition in the Tour Down Under, and my next big target is Tirreno-Adriatico, but of course we'll defend the lead as hard as we can here on the final stage."