Another typical Vuelta stage consisting of a flat profile until we hit the painfully steep final climb.

STAGE 6: Tarazona - Jaca 175 KM

It is a real fight to get into the break today with regulars such as Bongiorno and new guys to the breaks here such as Downing all skirmishing out front.

With 112 kilometres to go we have 5 men out front but we have two breaks. Rambo 'Eeckhout' leads by '20 over Curvers, Zirbel, Miholjevic and Hayman. But Rambo doesn't slow up!

Finally both groups join up with 95 kilometres to go. Even though the break was a strong one with a decent veteran climber such as Miholjevic the break reached a max gap of 7:00 with 80 kilometres to go before Standard Chartered, Liberia and J M Garate up the pace behind.

With 30 kilometres to go and a hillock approaching before the final steep climb we have an attack by Sylvain Chavanel, Kas and more Aer Lingus riders come to the front of the peloton.

With 15 kilometres to go Miholjevic is looking good out front. He is holding a 1:10 gap over Chavanel and the gap back to the peloton has grown out to 2:30, he will hold these gaps until the final steep climb begins with 4 kilometres to go.

Can the Croatian hold on despite the pain etched on his features for all to see?

Not if the Polka dots can help it.

Just before the final climb starts Voeckler looks to get the jump on everyone and he attacks but Zubeldia and Sami Sanchez have the same idea and are not far behind.

Miholjevic is onto the climb and suffering like a dog, Chavanel is eating big time into the gap.

Both Chavanel and Miholjevic are caught by the GC men much quicker than I would have guessed. Sami Sanchez takes up the pace and storms up the final climb like he is going downhill, quickly creating a sizeable gap back to the chaser Evans.

Somehow there is a mass crash on the 10% slopes back down the peloton. All that beer might have something to do with it. Out front Sanchez is quickly approaching the finish as Zubeldia puts in a late surge.

Sanchez takes his second win of the Vuelta, he is now the man to beat for sure. At times he looked in a different race up the final climb, Zubeldia did well to limit the losses for the GC group with Vockler struggling to hang on in 4th.

Another top 10 for Ballan sees him retain the leader's jersey but it can't be that long before he looses it to the Spaniard. Once again the grass looks to claim the stage but this time there is a lawnmower on the stage!

With just over 1000 meters of climbing this is almost as flat as the Vuelta gets. If there is going to be a mass sprint finish there will be one here.

STAGE 7: Huesca - Alconiz 159 KM

The sprint point is uncontested with 115 kilometres to go and we have a 12 man group 2:00 clear of the peloton, the riders: Grabsch; Vasilev; Bongiorno; Belohvosciks; Rice; Poos; Kuschynski; Parra; Fischer; Soeiro; Fukushima (who is the most active) and strangely once again Robbie Hunter gets himself into the break.

Clain and Maserati attack out of the peloton and do really well to finally bridge across to form a 14 man group out front with 85 kilometres to go, flying the flag high for Husky Energy. At this point the gap reaches a high of 6:20 before Cilo, Faema and Garin close down.

The chase is on as Gohr delivers some supplies to his teammates.

NOT AGAIN, must have been the thought of the other teams as Leukemans attacks out of the peloton with the break @ 2:20 with 30 kilometres to go.

But Leukemans can only catch part of the break before being caught up by the peloton. Faema doing the lion share of the chasing and with Hushovd as their leader you can't blame them.

With 10 kilometres to go Vasilev, Maserati, Bongirono and Poos are '30 ahead of the rest of the field.

Alcyon are busy. With 8 kilometres to go they send Chavanel onto the attack and he quickly passes the last of the break, Poos, but even Chavanel can't hold off the peloton.

CILO and FAEMA

are the two sprint trains formed. We have Tjallingi leading out Hushovd and Schulze leading out Hinault not too far behind are: Henderson; Miyazawa and Paolini

HUSHOVD WINS. A great lead out by Tjallingi saw the Norwegian lead the field with a lot to do, just like old times, he powered all the way to the finish and won by 2 bike lengths! Henderson the best of the rest. Hushovd looks to be the best sprinter in form.

Perhaps the first of many for Faema.