Over the hills and into the mountains we go.
An action packed stage is dead ahead.



The last few stages have not been kind to the breakaways.
Perhaps things change in their favor today.



And it is looking very promising at the sprint point in Guijuelo
(45kms from the finish), they lead by 10 minutes,



Bad luck for Julian Sanchez Pimienta as a flat tire drops him out of the breakaway. And with the climb up Sierra de Béjar lurking there is little chance he will be able to catch up.



Would you look at that, Andy Schleck starts the chaos again today a long ways away from the finish; Sanchez and Rodriguez follow.



Joaquim can't keep up, so its now just Andy and Samuel.



Now Contador attacks ...



However the attack proves nothing. But as a nice side story Pimienta has caught back up and now is in the lead, amazing.



With Contador chasing, another Spainard Sastre tries to get away.



Igor Anton counters the move when he realizes Sastre is getting away.



Frank looks over to Contador
and decides to test how much Conta has left in his tank.



Riders are all over the road now. A quick overview is needed. Andy and Sanchez are closing the gap on Pimienta ...



Anton and Sastre are caught up in breakaway traffic a few meters behied ...



Contador is dragging Frank up the mountain.



With the finish a upon us Alberto Contador finds energy for one last attack, Frank is suction cup onto his back wheel.



Unbelievable, Contador kicks again. Now Frank is in trouble.



But its Sanchez that gets the headlines today, very tactically ride for him.



And Contador fights all the way back to Andy. Conta saves his red jersey on some late heroics. Andy gains just 8 seconds today, surely not enough for his efforts. Sanchez moves into 2nd in GC now just 7 seconds behind Contador. And lastly to finish our side story, if you were rooting for Julian Sanchez Pimienta you would be glad to know he survived to finish 5th today.
Give that man a raise.

Stage

GC

Unlike the Giro and Tour the Vuelta puts its only individual time trial here on stage 10. How much time can Contador gain, or better said how much can Andy and Frank loses?



World Champion Cancellara is really the only man
that could beat Contador today.



And he looks very good through the two time checks, setting the fastest times.



At the finish, he sets the time to beat at 58'57''.



Andy takes ownership of the Green jersey
from brother Frank after yesturday's results.



A few minutes later Frank takes to the road. Followed by Sanchez.



And then Contador.



Andy comes in almost 1 minute behind Fabian's time,
which for now is 11th best.



Frank Schleck is even slower.



Sanchez squeezes himself between the Schleck's time at +1'08''.



Cancellara's time stands as Contador comes in 30 seconds slower.
Andy has only lost 29 seconds ... so far.



Maxime Monfort overtook Cancellara by the second check point earlier in the day by over a minute, so Andy is still losing a few seconds to Cancellara but must be doing something right if he is closing down on Joaquim Rodriguez in front of him.



Frank is not having a good day.
If this keeps up Andy could overtake him in GC today.



Sanchez is 5 seconds slower than Andy.



Conta just keeps rolling,
the math says Andy was now lost a minute and one second.



Andy passes Rodriquez right before the line, and comes in 1'11'' behind Fabian.



Frank wants a reset button today, he drops a minute to his brother. Meaning Andy moves past Frank in GC.



Talk about make the most of your opportunities, Conta storms his way to the stage win beating Cancellara by 20 seconds. Sanchez is 12 seconds slower than Andy, but remains 2nd overall now 1'51'' behind Alberto. 2'57'' is the magic number for Andy now heading forward.

Stage

GC