Probably a mass sprint.



180km to go

25 riders are ready. The man with the flag is also ready. Let the race begin!

136km to go

And, as expected, there are no attacks in the first part. The intermediate sprint isn't even contested. Costa was the lucky one to get the points.

92km to go

No battle for the mountain jersey as well. Rodriguez will be the first one to wear it.

56km to go

And the final intermediate sprint is for Betancur. Everything is pointing towards a mass sprint today.

10km to go

And everything is in 1 line now, heading towards the finish line. Evans is the first man, followed by Uran and Valverde.

1000m to go

The sprint is on! Who will be the winner? Evans is still ahead of the rest.

500m to go

But he is overtaken. It's Pinot vs. Sanchez vs. Porte at the moment. Or could Roche or Rodriguez still do something?

0m to go

It's Samuel Sanchez who wins this very close sprint ahead of Porte and Rodriguez. Nobody lost time today, but Porte takes over the red jersey because of the bonus seconds.



Stage:

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Samuel Sánchez	Euskaltel - Euskadi	5h00'39
2	Richie Porte	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
3	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	s.t.
4	Bauke Mollema	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
5	Thibaut Pinot	FDJ.fr	s.t.

GC:

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Richie Porte	Orica - GreenEdge	5h08'43
2	Samuel Sánchez	Euskaltel - Euskadi	+ 3
3	Bradley Wiggins	Node 4 - Giordana Racing	+ 9
4	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	+ 11
5	Tejay Van Garderen	BMC Racing Team	+ 12

Points:

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1	Richie Porte	Orica - GreenEdge	34
2	Samuel Sánchez	Euskaltel - Euskadi	27
3	Bradley Wiggins	Node 4 - Giordana Racing	25

Mountains:

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	6
2	Richie Porte	Orica - GreenEdge	4
3	Alberto Contador	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	2

The first tough stage.



118km to go

Rodriguez grabs some more points for the polka dot jersey. They didn't really challenge him, though.

89km to go

Valverde can have the points at the intermediate sprint.

83km to go

The next mountain sprint goes to Fuglsang without doing anything.

46km to go

Another uncontested intermediate sprint. Fuglsang gets the points again.

30km to go

Nibali gets the hounour of winning a mountain sprint. The final hill is coming close now.

21km to go

Hey, the first attack of this year's Vuelta. Valverde and Rodriguez are going away before the final hill.

14km to go

Valverde decides to go back into the peleton, while Rodriguez continues. Fuglsang is also attacking.

11km to go

More attacks! Uran, Hesjedal and Roche are the most prominent.

4000m to go

Hesjedal is the last one to get caught by the peleton. The final climb to Arrate has started. Immediately, Rodriguez attacks again. He's followed by GC-leader Porte, Valverde and Betancur. Others are trying to follow too.

2000m to go

2 kilometers. The two Spaniard are the only ones ahead of the peleton. Some riders can't follow the pace of the peleton. Sanchez, Wiggins and Quintana are the most prominent names.

1000m to go

Purito wins the mountain sprint. The only thing which seperates him from the victory is a short downhill.

0m to go

Joaquim Rodriguez is the winner here in Arrate! Valverde finishes 15 seconds behind him in second. Porte is the fastest in the remaining peleton 50 seconds later, but looses his jersey to Purito.



Stage:

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	4h22'39
2	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	+ 15
3	Richie Porte	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 50
4	Chris Horner	RadioShack - Leopard	s.t.
5	Roman Kreuziger	Team Saxo - Tinkoff	s.t.

GC:

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	9h31'28
2	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	+ 11
3	Richie Porte	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 32
4	Chris Froome	Sky Procycling	+ 55
5	Rui Costa	Efapel - Glassdrive	+ 57

Points:

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1	Richie Porte	Orica - GreenEdge	52
2	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	41
3	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	39

Mountains:

Rank	Name	Team	Points
1	Joaquím Rodríguez	Katusha Team	32
2	Alejandro Valverde	Movistar Team	16
3	Richie Porte	Orica - GreenEdge	14