Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) – two riders who missed this summer’s Tour de France for dissimilar reasons – were both back on the podium spotlight in Monday’s 168.6km third stage at the Vuelta a España.

Barred from the Tour after he tested positive for cocaine in late May an out-of-competition test, Boonen jumped off Bennati’s wheel with 100 meters to go into a stiff headwind to claim his first Vuelta stage-win in his career.

Bennati, sidelined with an ankle injury during July’s big dance, sprinted to second but snatched the leader’s jersey away from Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) as a consolation thanks to time bonuses.

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) dons the leader's jersey at the 2008 Vuelta a España.

Photo: Graham Watson

The exciting mano-a-mano duel into Córdoba came at the end of a sometimes tedious and hot stage that livened up with a late solo attack by two-time world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), who tried in vain to escape over a third-category climb in the final 30km.

The Vuelta successes Monday helped the two sprinter stars sooth the disappointment for missing cycling’s biggest race in July.

“This is very special victory. I’m back in the race in top form. It was a hard stage, with a lot of heat. I suffered enough on the climb, but so did the others,” Boonen said of his 13th win of the year. “Everyone arrived to the finish pretty tired. I had to make the right decision. I decided to grab Bennati’s wheel and it was the right one.”

Boonen gets a nifty hat for his sprint victory, his first in the Vuelta.

Photo: Graham Watson

The victory is a huge boost for Boonen, whose image was tarnished after he failed a May 26 out-of-competition control that revealed traces of cocaine. Because it wasn’t taken during a race, Boonen didn’t receive a racing ban but instead faced a wrath of bad press.

He was barred by organizers at both the Tour de Suisse and Tour de France, but returned to competition in the Ster-Elektour in June in winning fashion with a stage victory. He’s since won four other races before Monday’s Vuelta victory.

“I’ve gotten through a bad period in my life, but I am on the right path – that is, work hard, taking care of myself and I’ve demonstrated that I know how to arrive in the best possible conditions,” Boonen said.

Bennati, meanwhile, was sidelined with an ankle injury he suffered during a crash in the Giro d’Italia, but expressed frustration in his performance Monday despite donning the leader’s jersey.

Liquigas did some of the heavy lifting to set up the mass sprint into Córdoba and Bennati said he pulled the trigger too soon, opening the door for Boonen to come around him.

A spot of bother for race leader Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne).

Photo: Graham Watson

“I’m happy enough with the leader’s jersey, but sincerely I would have preferred to win the stage. The golden jersey is a small compensation, but I already had it last year and what I want from now on is to win stages,” Bennati said. “It wasn’t as if Tom was stronger than me today. What happened is that there was a strong headwind and since my team worked really hard, I started my sprint too soon. Tom grabbed my wheel and he surprised me.”

Coming through third was 38-year-old Erik Zabel (Milram), racing in his ninth Vuelta.

The sprint highlighted a relatively routine day for the main GC players. Riccardo Serrano (Tinkoff) crashed late with a broken clavicle, but all the top contenders finished in the lead group of 101 riders as the pack split in the late stages of the race.

Valverde forfeited his grip on the leader’s jersey, slipping to second at seven seconds back. Boonen climbed into third at 10 seconds back while Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) slotted into fourth at 22 seconds back.

With all eyes on Wednesday’s long individual time trial, the main protagonists will be expecting another bunch sprint in Tuesday’s run into Puertollano.

Manuel Ortega (Andalucia-CajaSur) took off in the opening kilometer.

Photo: Graham Watson

Ortega goes it alone
The 168.6km stage from Jaén to Córdoba pushed north across Spain’s hard-scrabble, sun-baked country dotted with white-washed villages and parched olive groves.

Manuel Ortega, an unsung, third-year pro from Andalucia-CajaSur, surged away in the opening kilometer and he wouldn’t come back. At least not for a long time.

By 17km, the peloton was more than happy to let him fry in the sun all by himself and he built up five-minute gap. The gap grew north of 15 minutes as the peloton rode blissfully along to work on their suntans.

Sometimes these long, solo efforts do work. Remember David Zabriskie and his solo flyer in 2004?

Big guns attack
After a long, tortuously boring transit to Córdoba, the Cat. 3 San Jerónimo climb finally gave the peloton reason to wake up from its collective slumber.

Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) had a late dig.

Photo: Graham Watson

Rising out of his saddle with his world champion’s rainbow jersey unzipped, Bettini attacked out of the group to pull within five minutes of the visibly struggling Ortega on the lower ramps of the twisting climb.

Riding in his big ring, Bettini kept looking back to see if anyone would take the bait. Sure enough, Alexandre Kolobnev (CSC-Saxo Bank) bridged out to form a tandem, but he soon faded under Bettini’s determined pace.

Bettini won a bunch sprint here in 2006 en route to his first of back-to-back world titles, so he obviously has good memories of the local roads.

Valverde wouldn’t let Bettini get more than a few seconds off the front, however, as Caisse d’Epargne methodically put its men on the front to keep the Cricket on a 20-second leash.

Ortega, meanwhile, was showing signs of fatigue and topped out over the climb alone, but Bettini had reduced the gap to 1:45.

Would it be enough to claim the stage?

Liquigas put some fresh legs on the front with 1km to go on the climb to help control the situation and keep Bettini at 33 seconds coming over the top.

A flurry of late attacks on the false-flat summit by David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) saw Ortega dying on the vine.

Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) tried his luck, too.

Photo: Graham Watson

Bettini blew past Ortega with about 20km to go, just in time for the long descent toward Córdoba. Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) blasted out of the pack to catch Ortega (who soon passed the thirsty Frenchman his water bottle).

“I hope to recover from the effort, because tomorrow is going to be a bitch for me,” said Ortega. “I’m enough happy to have attacked, because I still had chances for the victory up to 15km to go. The San Jerónimo climb cost me more than expected, but I had a great day to be in the break all day long.”

The chasing pair was soon reeled in by the pack with 16km to go. An angry Bettini, who was later seen chewing out Kolobnev for not trying harder, was caught soon after that. From there, the sprinters drove it home.

Tuesday’s stage
The 63rd Vuelta continues Tuesday with the 170.3km fourth stage from Córdoba to Puerto Llano as the race leaves behind Spain’s Andalucía region.

Boonen blazes to the stage win.

Photo: Graham Watson

The rolling stage features two third-category climbs in the opening 50km that will surely provoke breakaways, but it’s likely the sprinter teams will want to keep things under control.

Puerto Llano is back as host city for the third time in four years. In 2005, Alessandro Petacchi won in a sprint while Colombian Leonardo Duque won in 2007.

With the time trial on tap Wednesday, the sprinters will be looking for one last shot at the stage win – and the leader’s jersey – before the specialists take over.

63rd Vuelta a España
● Stage 3 Jaén to Córdoba, 168.8km
● Winner Tom Boonen (Quick Step), first career Vuelta win
● Leader Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) takes over thanks to time bonuses
● Points Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) leads a three-way tie with Boonen and Erik Zabel (Milram), all with 25 points
● KoM Jesús Rosendo Prado (Andalucía-CajaSur) retained the climber’s jersey
● Combined Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) retained the lead
● Team Caisse d’Epargne holds a one-second lead on Euskaltel-Euskadi
● Peloton Riccardo Serrano (Tinkoff) crashed late and suffered a suspected broken clavicle and he’s not expected to start tomorrow.