Cycling: Serrano gets reward for determination

MENDE - Marcos Serrano, who considered giving up cycling two years ago, was rewarded for his tenacity on Thursday when the Spaniard won the 18th stage of the Tour de France.

The Galician, born in Pontevedra like Tuesday's stage winner Oscar Pereiro, was first across the line after a withering attack in the final climb by the 33-year-old.

"It's unbelievable. You try hard, you work hard all year and all of a sudden, it works out," said the Liberty Seguros rider.

"I almost called it quits in 2003," said Serrano, who was a team mate of Joseba Beloki when the 2002 Tour runner-up crashed in the following year's race and suffered several fractures.

"The results weren't coming and I was very upset by Beloki's accident. I kept saying I was going to quit but at the bottom of my heart, I don't think I really meant it."

Thursday's victory was even sweeter as his Liberty Seguros team, coached by Manolo Saiz, had been struggling since the race start in Noirmoutier.

Team leader Roberto Heras was dropped in the climbs and quickly lost any chance of being a leading contender. The Spaniard is 45th overall, more than one and a half hours behind race leader Lance Armstrong.

Serrano attacked as if his life depended on it to drop his breakaway companions Cedric Vasseur of France and Axel Merckx of Belgium in a steep uphill finish.

"I didn't know that climb at all. I just rode flat out. There was no other solution," Serrano said.

The stage win followed a solid but sometimes disappointing career which included top 10 finishes in all three of the big stage races. He was eighth in the 1997 Giro d'Italia, ninth in the Tour in 2001 and 10th in Spain's Vuelta in 2002.


18th stage results:
1. Marcos Serrano (Spain / Liberty Seguros) 4min 37min 36sec
2. Cedric Vasseur (France / Cofidis) +27sec
3. Axel Merckx (Belgium / Davitamon - Lotto)
4. Xavier Zandio (Spain / Illes Balears) +1min08sec
5. Franco Pellizotti (Italy / Liquigas)
6. Thomas Voeckler (France / Bouygues Telecom) +1min28sec
7. Luke Roberts (Australia / Team CSC)
8. Matthias Kessler (Germany / T-Mobile) +1min 44sec
9. Egoi Martinez (Spain / Euskaltel) +2min 03sec
10. Carlos Da Cruz (France / Francaise des Jeux) +2min 38sec


- REUTERS