Taaramae wins Tour of Spain 14th stage

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Taaramae wins Tour of Spain 14th stage

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Estonia's Rein Taaramae won Tour of Spain 14th stage while Bradley Wiggins maintained his lead.

04 September,2011 02:37 am

Britains Bradley Wiggins produced a strong display of climbing on the Tour of Spain 14th stage Saturday, won by Estonias Rein Taaramae, to tighten his grip on the leaders red jersey.Team Skys three-time Olympic champion finished fifth on the stage 45secs behind Cofidis rider Taaramae after a punishing final climb which saw key rivals, including Italys reigning champion Vicenzo Nibali, drop down the overall standings.The several major climbs on the 175.8 km ride from Astorga to La Farrapona failed to dampen Taaramaes stage victory ambitions.He was in the attacking moves from the start and after breaking free among a 17-man group he proved the strongest, finishing 25 and 29sec respectively ahead of Spanish Geox team pair Juan Jose Cobo and David De La Fuente, at the finish line.Wiggins had been in a group trailing a couple of minutes behind on the final climb, but with British teammate Chris Froome setting a tough pace the Londoner saw several of his key rivals drop off the pace one by one.Liquigas rider Nibali had started the day in second overall at only 4sec adrift after closing his deficit by cheekily snatching bonus seconds in an early sprint on stage 13 Friday.But as the going got tough on the Farrapona climb, being raced for the first time on the Vuelta, the Italians hopes of climbing into the red jersey steadily evaporated in the thin mountain air.Nibali eventually came over the finish line over a minute in arrears to drop to 1:25 behind overall.Wiggins now leads teammate Froome by 7secs while Dutchman Bauke Mollema of Rabobank, who hung on to the coattails of the Team Sky pair, moved up from sixth overall to third, still at 36sec behind Wiggins.