The tenth stage is another mountainous stage in Andalusia. The route will have a few hills at the start of the stage but the difficulties come in the last 35 kilometers with the climbs to Monachil and Hazallanas. The last climb is a variant of Sierra Nevada, but it is only climbed to about half the altitude of the way. The favorites of the day have to be David Lopez and Peter Stetina, as they have shown that they have the legs to be the best climbers in the Vuelta so far.
The break of the day was a bit larger than what has been usual in this Vuelta but it also took a while for the break to take shape. Among the group of 7 riders were Jakob Fuglsang (Vacansoleil), Michael Rogers (Saxo - Tinkoff), Alexandre Vinokourov (Sky) and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Cannondale). In the intermediate sprint of Iznalloz (77 kilometers to go) they had a gap of 5' 30'' on the main bunch. Jose Joaquin Rojas won the sprint of the group once again, ahead of Yauheni Hutarovich and Tony Gallopin.
The race was very quiet until they passed the city of Granada and headed towards the climb of Monachil. As soon as the slopes began a group of outsiders attacked including Roman Kreuziger, Xavi Tondo, Samuel Sanchez and Denis Menchov. BMC had to respond again to keep the situation under control. Tejay van Garderen moved to the front to set the pace, once again showing his commitment on Peter Stetina winning the Vuelta. The gap for the break was 4' 30''.
George Hincapie relieved Van Garderen at the front of the bunch halfway to the top of Monachil (29 kilometers to go). Denis Menchov tried to go solo as the break was starting to be reeled back in the main bunch, while Roman Kreuziger dropped back into the group. Menchov would be probably better off keeping some company to do the descent but there is no flat between the climbs, so it could be not that much of a problem.
Sergey Firsanov was the first to go through the KoM banner at the top of Monachil ahead of Kanstantsin Siutsou. Denis Menchov has done a very good climb and is only losing 45 seconds at the top, while Tondo is 15 seconds behind the Russian. They could well connect with the break in the descent. Behind them, Samuel Sanchez joined Chris Horner and they are 2 minutes back while the main bunch is 2' 40'' behind. There are still more than 100 riders in that group, but that is slowly decreasing thanks to the work of the BMC team.
Xavi Tondo joined Denis Menchov but their descent was very poor and they were reeled back in by the main bunch at the bottom of the last climb of the day. Even though the proper climb starts with 7 kilometers to go, the road between the two climbs could well be considered part of the last mountain. The break still had 1' 30'' with 12 kilometers remaining, clearly not enough to remain ahead. The first of the favorites to launch an attack was Mathias Frank, but BMC did not let him go far.
David Lopez did a very serious attack just before the start of the actual last climb. Denis Menchov, who was very active today, followed his wheel and they are already leading the stage with 7 kilometers remaining. However, the group is only 10 seconds behind the duo and BMC is receiving the help of Andrew Talansky to try to bring the attackers back. It seems like the leader of the youngsters could be doing too much work today instead of profiting from BMC's control.
BMC is using his men to control the pace during the climb today instead of all out attacking as Peter Stetina did in Peñas Blancas. Jelle Vanendert was the last rider to attempt an attack as they reach half of the climb in the last mountain. The Belgian managed to open a small gap of 15 seconds to Chris Froome and 20 seconds to the main group. George Hincapie is again the rider in charge of setting the pace but all in all the climb as been less selective than Peñas Blancas so far.
David Lopez tried another attack with 3 kilometers remaining and this time it was Peter Stetina who had to respond to it, Mikel Nieve and Rob Ruijgh was soon behind the American. With 2 kilometers remaining they are again together. Jelle Vanendert has 15 seconds on the group of the favorites, now greatly reduced. Among the riders that have lost contact are Tejay van Garderen, Denis Menchov and Bauke Mollema. The Dutch has been the greatest disappointment of the race so far, as he does not seem to be anywhere close to his usual level in Grand Tours.
Vanendert was caught with a bit more than 1 kilometer to go and under the flame rouge Peter Stetina accelerated and only Rob Ruijgh has been able to follow him so far. They have 10 seconds on a very small group of 6 riders that are lead by Jelle Vanendert, Hubert Dupont and David Lopez. Andy Schleck also lost contact with that group and is losing 40 seconds, while Bauke Mollema's group is 1' 10'' behind.
Peter Stetina wins in Hazallanas! For a moment it looked like Rob Ruijgh would be strongest in the final sprint than the American, just like David Lopez grabbed the win from him in Peñas Blancas. However, Stetina managed to hold off the attack from Ruijgh to take his second stage win in a row and consolidate his lead in the Vuelta. It looks increasingly likely that the Vuelta will be a race between the two climbers.
The second group crossed the finish line 34 seconds behind led by David Lopez and Jelle Vanendert, while Hubert Dupont completed the top 5. Andy Schleck lost the third place in the GC after finishing 10th today, 1' 18'' behind the winner in a group with his brother and Mathias Frank among others. Meanwhile, Bauke Mollema must have written off his chances in the GC of the Vuelta after losing a further 1' 48'' today. The Dutch now sits 14th in GC ahead of the first rest day of the race.
The riders have enjoyed a rest day but also had to endure a transfer from the south of Spain back to the central part of the country. The following stage is a time trial 36 kilometers long that goes up and down the Alto del Moncayo. Considering that this is the only time trial of the route it is quite surprising that there are almost not flat parts where the specialists can use their capabilities.
The first rider where we will put our focus is Tejay van Garderen (BMC). The winner of the Tour de France is committed to helping Peter Stetina wins this Vuelta but today is a day that he could use to shine. However, the American clearly does not have the same fitness as in the Tour as he could only be 2nd provisionally behind the early pace setter, Lieuwe Westra.
Denis Menchov (Quickstep) was the first leader of the race but it has been clear since then that the Quickstep man for the GC is Andy Schleck. However, the Russian wanted to have a good performance in the time trial, where he performs to his best. His final time was not bad, taking the 4th place so far 9 seconds behind Lieuwe Westra.
Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) has been largely disappointing in the Vuelta so far. The Dutch arrived in Spain as the main favorite to take the final win and lost his chances in the first week. Today was not better for him, as he could only take the 6th provisional time, 17 seconds slower than Westra. It might be that the best outcome for Mollema is trying to take a stage win later in the race.
Juanjo Cobo (Sky) was also supposed to do well in this Vuelta but the hype about his chances in the Grand Tours might have been a bit overdone after his podium in the Volta a Catalunya. The Spaniard should have done well in today's time trial but when he arrived in Tarazona he was only the 15th best time and lost 42 seconds to Westra's best time.
Cadel Evans (Movistar) has been very solid so far in this Vuelta and he confirmed those feelings today when he took the provisional best time in the finish line after beating Lieuwe Westra by 11 seconds. The Australian had come 2nd to Rui Costa in the intermediate time but did a perfect descent back. Considering the riders that are ahead of him in the GC he could well move ahead a few places today.
Andrew Talansky (HTC) has been decent in some time trials, especially when he took the podium in the Tirreno - Adriatico earlier this year. Today he even improved on those performances by taking the 7th provisional time, 27 seconds behind Cadel Evans. That time will leave both of them tied in the GC ahead of Jelle Vanendert and Andy Schleck.
The next rider to start, 4th in the GC, was Mikel Nieve (Discovery). The Spaniard confirmed that the time trials are not for him. Even though it was a mixed route he lost 1' 11'' in the finish line, 29th provisionally. Nieve will therefore lose a few places in the GC and drop to the 7th place behind Jelle Vanendert.
The third in the GC is David Lopez (Euskaltel). The Spaniard was grateful for the lack of pure time trials in the Vuelta and he was actually one of the best today. Lopez set the third provisional time in the finish losing only 13 seconds to Cadel Evans. This result will consolidate his podium place and will leave him more than 20 seconds ahead of the fourth place.
Rob Ruijgh (Belkin) had the target of not losing more time against Peter Stetina. In the intermediate point he had achieved not only that but he was 6 seconds ahead of Stetina. The two of them are maintaining a pretty battle for the leader's jersey which will hopefully continue until the end of the Vuelta. In the finish line Ruijgh was not bad, recording the 10th best time so far 29 seconds behind Evans.
Peter Stetina (BMC) was obviously last to start in the red jersey. The American had a good chance to gain time on many of his chasers for the GC but his result today was not as good as what he has shown in previous days. In the end he was 9th, losing 28 seconds to Evans and gaining 1 more second in his battle against Rob Ruijgh. The good news about the result of this time trial is that the GC has not suffered big differences and the uncertainty about the final result is still very much alive.
The winner of the stage was Cadel Evans, who takes his second of the season after the stage he won in the Criterium du Dauphine. The Australian clearly beat everyone else, as Lieuwe Westra, who was second, finished 11'' behind. Among the top 10 riders the worst part was for Andy Schleck, who lost 1' 17'' and is now more than 3 minutes behind.
The sprinters will have another chance of shining in the day that the Vuelta arrives in Catalunya. They have had a few days of fighting in the back of the race to make it to the finish line on time but they will be rewarded with an easier stage on the shore of the Mediterranean. Jose Joaquin Rojas has been the best sprinter in the Vuelta so far with two wins, so let's see if someone else can grab a win today.
Only three riders formed the break of the day, after a bigger group was brought back by the bunch early in the stage. They were Yoann Offredo (Astana), Haimar Zubeldia (Sky) and Rein Taaramae (Katusha). They had a gap of 3' 45'' on the peloton at the first intermediate sprint of the day, in Vinebre. In the main bunch sprint for the points Kenny van Hummel was quickest ahead of Yauheni Hutarovich and Michael Matthews.
Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha) led the group at the Alto del Collet but it was Levi Leipheimer who was leading most of the climb for HTC. With 70 kilometers still remaining the gap of the break had increased to 5 minutes but with the remainder of the race essentially flat the peloton should have no problems.
The break maintained 25 seconds on the main bunch with 8 kilometers remaining as they reached the Mediterranean shore on the outskirts of Tarragona. HTC has worked very hard at the front of the main bunch, especially with Geraint Thomas. The other teams know that Rojas is very strong and are leaving the American team most of the work. On the other hand, Lampre is very short on flat riders and have disappeared from the front places in the last kilometers.
The break was caught and HTC did not lose much time to form a sprint train. It would be Borut Bozic again leading Jose Joaquin Rojas, while Chris Sutton is following his wheel. Belkin also formed a train, with Alessandro Petacchi ahead of Kenny van Hummel and Radioshack's Daniele Bennati behind. The third train was Lampre's, as Marco Marcato would lead out Yauheni Hutarovich. Fran Ventoso was placed behind the Belarusian.
Boruc Bozic is again doing a great job of placing Rojas in the best spot ahead of the last kilometer. The same cannot be said of the other trains, as Marco Marcato has again lost Yauheni Hutarovich and seems to be sprinting on his own at the right hand side of the road. The only sprinter that seems to be doing a good approximation seems to be Chris Sutton.
Jose Joaquin Rojas looks ready to add another win to his tally with 500 meters remaining. At that point Borut Bozic is still the second right behind his teammate while behind the HTC duo are Marco Marcato, Alessandro Petacchi and Chris Sutton. The superiority that Rojas is enjoying is surprising, especially given that there are a few sprinters that haven't even bothered to join the final sprint,
Jose Joaquin Rojas wins in Tarragona! This is the third stage win for the Spaniard in this Vuelta but better than that is the way in which he has won. No one was even close to dispute the win by the HTC rider and only in the last few meters managed Fran Ventoso to overtake Borut Bozic or the second place in the stage. The top 5 was completed by Marco Marcato and Alessandro Petacchi.
Today's sprint was quite weird and it is surprising to see sprinters like Marcel Kittel, Yauheni Hutarovich, Sacha Modolo and Ben Swift all between the 20th and the 30th place in the stage. Tomorrow they might have another chance, but they will have to go through the climb to the Rat Peñat if they want to take part in the final sprint.
The thirteenth stage of the Vuelta is classified as flat, but it is difficult to say if a mass sprint will happen or not. The climb to the Rat Peñat is 5 kilometers climb with high percentages that a few sprinters should have difficulties with. It will be interesting to see whether HTC thinks that Rojas has won enough and let a break succeed in the second stage in Catalonia.
The start of the stage was quite demanding with the climb to the Alto Can Llenas within a few kilometers from the start. A group of 4 riders had already built a good gap of 2' 15'' at the top of the climb, so it looked like they would settle as the break of the day: Simon Gerrans (Radioshack), Robbie McEwen (Astana), Joost van Leijen (Vacansoleil) and Jure Kocjan (Discovery). It was quite a strong break and the peloton would need to do a good effort to bring them back.
The intermediate sprint of the day was located at Vilafranca del Penedes (107 kilometers to go). As usual Jose Joaquin Rojas was the best in the sprint of the group, ahead of Marcel Kittel and Yauheni Hutarovich. Meanwhile, Maarten Tjallingii managed to bridge the gap to the break after attacking in the last kilometer of the first climb of the day. However, their gap had not built up and was around 2 minutes at that point.
The most interesting point of the day was the climb to the Rat Peñat, with 45 kilometers remaining in the stage. The climb is 4.8 kilometers long averaging a slope of 9.8%; therefore, the sprinters were suffering, including Rojas, who was towards the back of the pack. At the top of the climb the men from the break continued together with a gap of 3 minutes over the first riders of the peloton.
The peloton was chasing hard on the way to Castelldefels when a huge crash happened in the middle of the pack. At least 40 riders hit the ground hard, including some of the top riders: Cadel Evans, Frank Schleck, Andy Schleck and Juanjo Cobo. Saxo - Tinkoff's sprinter, Juan Jose Haedo was also in the ground. With the kind of pace that HTC is putting in the main bunch to chase down the break they could well lose a lot of time at the finish line.
The main bunch was pushing hard behind the men of the break but Simon Gerrans resisted ahead with 5 kilometers remaining. However, the 20 seconds that he had seemed not enough to make it to the finish line. HTC and Lampre are already preparing the final sprint in a group of around 80 riders. The group with most of the crashed riders is losing 2' 30''.
Borut Bozic is making a great work to deliver Rojas to the first place of the peloton at the flame rouge. The work by HTC reeled back Gerrans with 3 kilometers remaining and they want another win in the Vuelta. Meanwhile, other sprinters seem to be out of position and other without lead out men due to the earlier crash. It is looking very good for Rojas again.
With 500 meters remaining it looks like Rojas has taken off for his fourth win in the Vuelta. He is well ahead of the other sprinters chasing, lead by Marco Marcato, who is still leading Yauheni Hutarovich, Borut Bozic and Emanuele Sella. It seems like everything played in the hands of Rojas today, as he goes through the hills better than most of the sprinters and his team was unaffected by the earlier crash.
Jose Joaquin Rojas wins in Castelldefels! This was another very dominant win by the Spaniard sprinter, his fourth in the Vuelta and his 7th in the year, what puts him as leader in terms of wins in the season. None of the other sprinters put his win in any sort of danger. The best of the rest was Yauheni Hutarovich today, ahead of Emanuele Sella, Kenny van Hummel and Ben Swift.
The bad news were for the riders that crashed today, as most of them lost 4 minutes. That makes Cadel Evans drop to the 13th place in the GC and Andy Schleck drop to the 15th. This is especially bad for the Australian, who could well have made it to the podium in Madrid. There were no retirements due to the crash but a few riders seem to be injured, like Alessandro Ballan, Bjorn Leukemans, Samuel Sanchez and Robert Kiserlovski.
After a break in the interesting stages for the general classification the rider will have a more difficult day of racing today. They will go north towards the Pyrenees, where they will have to tackle 4 categorized climb, including the long and hard Port d'Envalira. That will be only the first of the day but along the descent back to Andorra the route has the climb to Ordino and Comella before the final climb to the Collada de la Gallina.
BMC tried to control the size of the break but lots of teams wanted to put people in front and in the end as many as 9 riders formed the break of the day. The group included Maxime Monfort (Quickstep), Pavel Brutt (Katusha), David Millar (Vacansoleil), Geraint Thomas (HTC) and Mark Renshaw (Discovery). The Belgian is probably the best climber in the group. They reached the intermediate sprint in Andorra la Vella 4 minutes ahead of the main bunch, just as they started the climb to Envalira.
The main bunch was not really interested in increasing the pace and they climbed Envalira very slowly. At the top, 68 kilometers remaining, they were 9' 30'' behind the break and BMC seems comfortable with letting the break win the day. It is a shame that no team was interested in increasing the pace, but with a finish in another climb it would be difficult to see anyone other than Ruijgh or Lopez being strong enough to contend with Stetina.
Frank Schleck lost a lot of time yesterday and he decided that he had nothing to lose. He attacked in the descent of Envalira and soon opened a gap on the bunch. At the top of the Col d'Ordino (41 kilometers to go) he had cut the gap to the break to 5' 40''. Behind him, another group of 4 had formed, including his teammate Roman Kreuziger and Juanjo Cobo. Meanwhile, the main bunch was not impressed and was more than 3 minutes behind the Luxembourgish.
The serious attacks in the main bunch started in the last kilometers of the climb to Ordino, as Cadel Evans decided to attack with 2 kilometers to the top and was joined by Matthias Frank. They were later joined by Andrew Talansky. The descent was rather quick and the flat part between the two climbs killed the pace of Frank Schleck. At the Port de la Comella (16 kilometers to go) he was chased down by Matthias Frank and Talansky but the main bunch was already hard on their heels. Meanwhile, the front break kept a gap of more than 3 minutes.
The 9 men from the break started the last climb of the day with an ever decreasing difference. They could have enough of a gap in the 2 minutes they have with 7 kilometers remaining but if the attacks start early they will be swallowed by the GC favorites. In the main bunch BMC brought everyone back together, even after the American team had a few kilometers of doubts in the climb to La Comella.
Alexandr Kolobnev attacked from the break but it was a hopeless attack, as the main favorites started the attacks early and the Saxo - Tinkoff rider only had 25 seconds on a group of 6 including David Lopez, Bauke Mollema and Laurens Ten Dam with 5 kilometers remaining. The group of the leader is 1 minute behind Kolobnev, but Stetina has not given a sign of responding to the attacks. The most active rider in the climb so far has been Mollema.
An attack from Andy Schleck seemed to be solid enough to open a gap but it was not meant to be and with 3 kilometers remaining it was Laurens Ten Dam who had taken the lead of the stage. Jurgen van den Broeck was just 15 seconds behind, while a big group of 30 riders was 30 seconds back. There have been lots of attacks in the climb but none of them were strong enough.
It was Peter Stetina himself who had to chase down Laurens Ten Dam and he managed to catch the Dutch under the 1 kilometer banner. The leader seems to have abandoned his attacking style from the start of the Vuelta and has taken a more conservative style in today's climb. Among the riders that will be contending for the stage are Denis Menchov, Andy Schleck and David Lopez, as they are close behind Stetina. Meanwhile, Frank Schleck lost track with the group of the favorites a while ago.
Peter Stetina wins in the Collada de la Gallina! The American was the best in the mountains again and takes his third win in the Vuelta so far. It seems like this Vuelta is a competition between Jose Joaquin Rojas and Peter Stetina to see who the rider that gets more stage wins is. The day was not only good because of the win, but Stetina's late attack was enough to open a gap of 12 seconds on David Lopez and Jelle Vanendert and 22 seconds on the rest of the favorites.
The GC is a bit clearer after Stetina's win, as he now has 56 seconds over Rob Ruijgh. The Dutch was nowhere to be seen today and he could pay the price tomorrow if his legs are not responding well this weekend. Tomorrow's stage will take the riders on a repetition of the stage finishing in Peyragudes in the last Tour de France.
The route along the Pyrenees continues with the queen stage of the Vuelta. Today will be a long day for the riders, as they will have to tackle 237 kilometers and the climbs to the Canto, Bonaigua, Bales, Peyresourde and Peyragudes. The last 50 kilometers will be the same as in the stage in the last Tour de France won by Dries Devenyns. The differences in the finish line should be quite big, given that the stage will be very hard.
The break of the day had already formed in the first climb of the day, the Port del Canto (190 kilometers to go). The big climb has 25 kilometers of ascent. Stefano Garzelli (Lampre) was the rider most interested in the points and he crossed the KoM banner ahead of Simon Gerrans (Radioshack) and Jose Serpa (Katusha). Other significant riders in the group of 9 were Michael Rogers (Saxo - Tinkoff) and Levi Leipheimer (HTC). They had built a gap of 7 minutes on the main bunch at the top.
The gap of the riders in the break had grown to 14' 30'' at the climb of La Bonaigua. Stefano Garzelli took the points of the KoM again from Simon Gerrans. Meanwhile, in the main bunch Movistar and Quickstep were helping BMC relay at the front but the pace was far from difficult. Only a few riders had lost contact in the first climb and they had quickly recovered.
The second intermediate sprint of the day in Siradan was 55 kilometers from the finish line and on the bottom of the climb to the Port de Bales. Stefano Garzelli was the virtual leader of the general classification at that point in the stage, as the gap had grown to a massive 18' 45''. It was clear that the break riders were going to fight for the stage win among them. The Italian is probably the best climber of the group with Michael Rogers and Jose Serpa.
Halfway through the climb to Bales BMC was already setting a higher pace in the main bunch. Tejay van Garderen and George Hincapie were working at the front, what gives an idea of the kind of pace. With the hardest part of the climb still to come the size of the peloton had been reduced by half. Belkin was also present in the head of the group with 4 riders ready to work for Rob Ruijgh as most of the favorites are gaining places in the group.
The break had lost one of its members, Simon Gerrans, in the second part of the climb. The Australian is a much better hills rider than climber and could not keep the pace. Stefano Garzelli was again first at the top, 16' 30'' ahead of the main bunch. In the peloton Laurens Ten Dam had attacked and is climbing with a gap of 30 seconds over an ever decreasing group of 60 riders.
Stefano Garzelli and Levi Leipheimer attacked as soon as the break group reached the slopes of the Peyresourde. They had a gap of 30 seconds on the rest of the front group with 8 kilometers remaining to the top of the climb. In the peloton, Laurens Ten Dam was caught in the descent of Bales. The pace set by Van Garderen meant that only 20 riders remained in the group of the favorites with 2 climbs remaining.
Peter Stetina was responding to all of the attacks himself in the Peyresourde, as Tejay did a good job of increasing the pace for him and seemed quite tired. Jurgen van den Broeck was the first of the favorites to lose contact and Frank Schleck did not have a good day and seems about to do the same. The attackers today have mostly been Mikel Nieve and Bauke Mollema, but they do not seem strong enough to open a gap.
The head of the race is a big chaos after the attacks among the riders started. Stefano Garzelli will once again take the points of the KoM jersey at the top of the Peyresourde and looks solid for the stage win in Peyragudes. His biggest rival might be John Gadret, who is 30 seconds behind at the top of the climb. However, the gap should be enough with 6 kilometers remaining. Michael Rogers and Jose Serpa are next in line, 1' 15'' behind the leader while Carlos Betancur is losing 1' 35''.
John Gadret surprisingly managed to catch Stefano Garzelli with a bit more than 1 kilometer to go. The Italian looks really bad after being the best in the climb to the Peyresourde. The two of them will enter the last kilometer together. None of them has won this season yet, so a stage win in the queen stage of the Vuelta would be outstanding.
John Gadret wins in Peyragudes! The French was clearly strongest than Stefano Garzelli in the last small climb of the day and the 1' 18'' that he put between themselves in the last 1.5 kilometers is a good proof. This is the second stage win of the season for Garmin, a team that has one of the smallest budgets in the World Tour but that has been able to perform outstandingly this season in some great scenarios. The American team will take the queen stage of the Vuelta.
While Gadret was winning the stage the favorites for the GC still had more than 2 kilometers to go. Frank Schleck seemed to be suffering in the climb to the Peyresourde but it must have all been fake because he attacked later in the climb and is holding a gap of 40 seconds on the group of the favorites. The rest of the field is letting Peter Stetina lead the main group and most of the other riders are comfortably sitting on his wheel.
The final push was too hard for Schleck, who ended up being overtaken by the two leaders of the GC. Rob Ruijgh beat Peter Stetina in the sprint to the line this time around but he did not put any time difference between the two of them. The next to arrive were David Lopez and Frank Schleck, 11 seconds behind them. Mikel Nieve was next, losing 37 seconds.
David Lopez is starting to feel more secure in his podium place, as he is distancing Talansky bit by bit. The gap is already up to more than 1 minute. Meanwhile, Mikel Nieve is gaining time on the riders ahead of him and only 2 seconds separate him from the 5th place in the GC, held by Jelle Vanendert. The rider that had a bad day today was Jurgen van den Broeck. The Lotto rider lost 6 minutes to Rob Ruijgh and dropped clearly outside the top 10.
The last stage of the Pyrenees is not as demanding as the two that preceded it. In the first place, the stage is less than 150 kilometers and the only really difficult climb of the day will be the final climb to Formigal, and it is only averaging 4.9% gradient. Having said that, some riders could still be recovering from the effort of the previous stage and some time gaps in the finish line cannot be discarded.
The main bunch seems to be less reluctant to letting a strong break form in these stages. The group of 6 that finally opened a gap had among its members Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha), Davide Rebellin (Movistar), David Millar (Vacansoleil) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre). The main bunch was unpanicked as the gap of the break was 4' 45'' at the first intermediate sprint of the day, in Ainsa. Johan Tschopp was doing most of the pacing for BMC.
The penultimate climb of the day was the Puerto de Cotefablo, 45 kilometers from the finish line. BMC seemed content with the break gaining a big advantage, as there was no dangerous rider in it. Therefore, their gap grew to 8' 30'' at the top of the climb. The rest of the teams seem to be suffering from a hangover after the queen stage of the race and no one seems keen to get things started.
The attacks surprisingly started among the favorites in the small hills preceding the final climb to Formigal. Mikel Nieve and Rob Ruijgh soon opened a small gap on the main bunch and Juanjo Cobo managed to bridge the gap and join them. BMC seemed a little surprised and it is Peter Stetina himself who has to give it a go to try and close the gap with the attackers. This could be an entertaining last 23 kilometers if they don't manage to bring them back soon.
In the break, Michele Scarponi and Moreno Moser opened a gap already in the last climb. They had 20 seconds on the rest of the break with 10 kilometers remaining. However, there are stronger riders back among the chasers so it is difficult to think that they will make it to the finish. Meanwhile, the first attempt was reeled back in as soon as BMC organized themselves a little bit but another attack by Mikel Nieve dragged a group of 8 including Peter Stetina, Rob Ruijgh and Jelle Vanendert with him. They soon opened a gap of 25 seconds.
David Lopez did not follow the important attack and even though he is finding some help much of the chase falls on his effort. The group with the rest of the favorites, including Andrew Talansky, Matthias Frank and Bauke Mollema is losing 50 seconds in relation to the group of the leader with 7 kilometers remaining. This is not a very demanding climb, so that is a big gap to close.
Michele Scarponi and Moreno Moser were reeled back in quite easily and it is Davide Rebellin who is trying to increase the pace inside the last 4 kilometers of the stage to take out of the fight the weakest riders in the break. Meanwhile, David Lopez took the responsibility and reduced the gap with the group of the leader to 30 seconds. That was the moment that Juanjo Cobo used to try and bridge the gap with the front group.
The gap of the break at the start of the climb looked more than enough for them to take the win at the start of the last climb but that gap has been reduced to a mere 50 seconds with 2 kilometers remaining. It still looks like they will get the win but only because the stage is not 1 kilometer longer. Jurgen van den Broeck was the rider that attacked from the group of the leader but he could not open a gap. In the chasing group Laurens Ten Dam and Andrew Talansky are increasing their collaboration with David Lopez to try and cut their losses.
Michele Scarponi and Moreno Moser tried once again to open a gap in the last kilometer and are around 15 seconds ahead of the chasers led by Rinaldo Nocentini and Davide Rebellin. The men from the break cannot think too much about the finish, because Peter Stetina's group is closing in on them very fast. Meanwhile, David Lopez attacked to try to close the gap and is quickly approaching the front group as well.
Rinaldo Nocentini wins in Aramon Formigal! The Italian had cold blood to try and start the final sprint at the perfect time to hold off Davide Rebellin, who took the second place in the stage. This is the first win for Katusha that is not taken by Simone Ponzi, what should increase the morale in the Russian team. David Millar and Miguel Rubiano were third and fourth in the stage, while a surprising Peter Stetina took the 5th place on the same time as the winner.
The only riders from the GC that did not lose time to the leader today were Rob Ruijgh, Jelle Vanendert, Emanuele Sella and a charging David Lopez, who was able to push to the limit in the last 2 kilometers to take the 10th place in the stage. Andrew Talansky and Mikel Nieve lost 38 seconds and are a bit further away before the last rest day of the Vuelta a España.
The three stages in the Pyrenees are gone and after a deserved rest day the riders will face a much easier stage today. There are two categorized climbs towards the end of the stage but nevertheless the mass sprint should be the way to go today. The biggest question is probably whether Jose Joaquin Rojas will manage to get an additional win to his tally this afternoon.
The size of the break was on the large side today, as 9 riders formed the break of the day. The most important riders in it were Simon Gerrans (Radioshack), Maarten Tjallingii (Ag2r), Janez Brajkovic (Quickstep), Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil) and Sebastian Langeveld (Movistar). They crossed the first intermediate sprint of the day 3' 30'' ahead of the main bunch, always led by Lampre. The Italian team is still hopeful that Hutarovich will manage to take a stage win in this Vuelta.
The peloton seemed to be unwilling to chase the break and they got to the last categorized climb of the day, the Alto de Valmala, with a gap of 7' 45'' to the break. With only 37 kilometers to go it seems highly unlikely that they will actually chase. It is surprising to see the teams of the sprinters refusing to chase but Lampre is very short on rouleurs and the overall quality of the team is not great while HTC might be happy with the amount of wins they have so far.
With less than 10 kilometers remaining the men from the break knew that they would fight for the stage among themselves. Therefore, the not so quick riders in the final sprint started attacking. It was a group of 4, including Pablo Lastras, Simon Gerrans, Janez Brajkovic and Lieuwe Westra that opened a small gap of 20 seconds with only 8 kilometers remaining. Jurgen Roelandts, probably the quickest man in the group was trying to close the gap down.
The chasers managed to bring back the four riders and with 2 kilometers to go Janez Brajkovic was the first to start the final sprint. It is arguably a bit too far away, especially as Brajkovic is not among the quickest to the line. The Quickstep rider was swiftly followed by Giacomo Nizzolo and Robbie McEwen, the quickest in the group along with Jurgen Roelandts.
Giacomo Nizzolo comfortably leads the sprint with less than 1 kilometer to go. If he has the energy to keep pushing it will be hard for any of his chasers to catch him. Janez Brajkovic is starting to lose pace but is still second on the road ahead of a charging Jurgen Roelandts, Robbie McEwen and Pablo Lastras. It looks like the likes of Gerrans and Westra spent too much energy in their attempts not to finish in a group.
Giacomo Nizzolo wins in Burgos! This is a very important win for the Cannondale team, who had won twice at the start of the season with Laurens Ten Dam but had not repeated a win since the Volta a Catalunya. The Italian sprinter managed to beat Jurgen Roelandts and Robbie McEwen, while Janez Brajkovic and Pablo Lastras completed the top 5 of the stage.
In the main bunch there were no surprises and Jose Joaquin Rojas won the sprint of the group, strengthening a bit more his lead in the points' jersey. The opportunities for the sprinters are not effectively over until the last stage in Madrid on Sunday.
although i cannot get used to him in the colours of Movistar 
