XATIVA, Spain -- Slovenian Borut Bozic landed the best stage victory of his career by winning the 176.8-kilometer sixth leg of the Vuelta a Espana on Friday.
The Vacansoleil rider crossed the finish line well clear of American Tyler Farrar and former Vuelta winner Daniele Bennati of Italy.
The sprinters are dominating the overall standings with German Andre Greipel in first place, six seconds ahead of Belgian Tom Boonen and nine seconds in front of Bennati in third.
"This is a major breakthrough," Bozic told reporters. "The key to winning was being well positioned behind Farrar and Boonen and then accelerating away 250 meters from the line.
"Nobody expected me to start my move so far from the finish, and I was able to take the biggest victory of my career."
The 29-year-old Bozic said cycling in Slovenia was a minority sport, which made it tough to carve out his career path.
"I've only ever raced in smaller teams and that means you have to fight harder and win more in order to succeed," he said.
"Today's result though should make a few people sit up and take notice."
Saturday's 30-kilometer time trial in Valencia is likely to see the race favorites strengthen their positions.
"It's not very long and it's pretty flat, so there won't be big differences," said Spain's Alejandro Valverde.
"Afterwards we won't know who'll win overall, but it's the first indication who the real contenders are and who's just come along for the ride.
"Of the favorites, I'm expecting [Australian] Cadel Evans and [Italian] Ivan Basso to do the best, it's their kind of time trial," added Valverde.
The Vuelta finishes on Sept. 20 in Madrid.
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