Team High Road rider Fabian Cancellara once again showed his dominance in time trials as he won the seventh stage of the three week long Vuelta de Espana cycle race. Cancellara won the short 4.8-kilometer first stage in the Dutch town of Assen last Sunday and was again the strongest in the second time trial of the race.
He needed just 36.41 minutes to ride the 30-kilometer urban circuit around the city of Valencia, a time made even more impressive by the damp conditions, which made cornering dangerous.
David Millar finished in second place, 32 seconds behind Cancellara, while Bert Grabsch was third.
That win returns Cancellara to the overall leader's Gold jersey he lost on the fifth stage of the race.
However, it is unlikely that the powerful Swiss rider will remain in the overall lead after Sunday's stage, which finally sees the Vuelta move into the mountains.
The 204-kilometer stage climbs over three third category and two second category climbs, before finishing on the summit of the special category Alto de Aitana, which is reached after a climb of around 1,250 meters.
With race favorites such as Samuel Sanchez, Cadel Evans and Alejandro Valverde all in contention this stage will go a long way to determine which riders really can challenge all the way to the finish in Madrid on Sept. 20.