It's finally time that we head into the mountains! And we don't do half work; 224km ending with two big climbs, with the finish on the top of La Rabassa(Andorra). It's not the hardest climb you could imagine, but after more then 200km and with today being the first mountain stage, some riders are going to suffer.
The favourites look to be guys like Schleck, Rujano, Intxausti, Uran and Serpa but everything will depend on the moment the place their attack, and it that attack will have power in it. One thing is for sure, the GC is going to be changed; big time!
After a first groupe of attackers was realed in (except for Bellis), andother groupe went, and this second groupe immediatly got to go away from the by Virgin lead pack. Ortego leads th groupe up this hill, followd by Chacon, Le Mevel and Bellis, while Ahmed is having trouble and obviously chose the wrong stage to go in the break for his abilities. A little further back you can see Orozco who is trying to bridge the gap.
And Orozco doesnt just bridge the gap, he also attacks to take the KOM points after doing a fast relay, dropping both Ahmed and Bellis. Gap to the pack: 5'40.
But, Bellis manages to get back up front on the flat after the climb... to be dropped again on the next, bigger climb. The gap has now grown to almost 10 minutes, as Orozco takes some more points for the KOM jersey.
Then, suprize: Lobato descides to attack on a rising section just after the top. There's still 110km left though...
And the, even more suprize: Philps' team leader Duarte has crashed! Zaballa and Stundia had gone down too as 6 Philips riders wait to help out.
The Philips train works quite well... but there's simply no fighting the pack, which is up to speed chasing the breakaway. It's going to be very difficult for Duatre to get back...
As Lobato is caugth, Philips is still not closing in much, as Keizer punctures and Orozco wins the intermediate sprint. The break now has 5:50 left.
And as a little later, Duarte only has Belloti left as helper, his situation is pretty much hopeless. Lets for he'll be able to go for a stage of the KOM jersey later on!
As the break reaches the climb with the pack closing in, le Mevel is dropped pretty much right away.
With the breakaway in sigth, Perez Sanchez is the first favourite to launch an attack. 8km to the top and 40km to the finsh.
Serpa, Cobo and Castano join him, as the take a small gap the the pack.
As they catch up with Orozco and Ortega (the last remainings of the early break) Cobo is dropped. The gap to the pack seems pretty stable.
As Perez Sanchez takes the KOM points, while lots of other riders attack for these points as well.
Then, as in the decent, everybody except Castano, Perez Sanchez and Serpa are caugth (with them not having a big gap either), andother stroke of bad luck for a GC candidate: Serpa is down!
Parra Pinto does what he can to help him back, but they only have sight on the first chase groupe - not even the pack!...
At the foot of the final climb, everybody is caugth and the 36 men pack can start battling it out now.
And again, Perez Sanchez is off first. He must be having a good day!
On this 10.5% section, getting a gap is not easy. Uran follows though, as do Abal and Rujano, with Sanchez Gil and de la Fuenta attacking in the pack as well.
Then, Intxausti choses his moment of attack much better, going on a small flat section and thus easily bridging the gap to Perez Sanchez and Uran. Schleck is trying to do the same as well behind Intxausti.
And Andy storms rigth past poor Benat!
The fav's groupe isn't too big anymore now. The names: Anton, Nazaret, Plaza, Sanchez Gil, Rujano, Mayo, Gomex Marchante,Zubeldia, Cobo, Marquez, Abal, Perez Fernandez, de la Fuente and Pereiro Sio. Castano, van Huffel and Siutsou are a little behind, but are not coming back.
The gap to Perez Sanchez and Uran is '44, while they are '31 behind Intxausti and he is '28 behind Schleck. Still 11.5km left though. Everyting can still happen.
As Schleck keeps riding away, Perez Sanchez has cracked now leaving Uran alone in his chase. Behind him, Plaza and Zubeldia have a small gap to the rest of the groupe, which is slowly being ripped apart.
Rujano, Marchante, Sanchez Gil and Mayo have now formed a 4 men chase groupe behind Plaza and Zubeldia. The rest is all over 40 second behind them.
In front of them though, there is a status quo between Schleck, Intxausti and Uran. And with only 2.5km left, it's starting to look pretty good for Schleck.
And as not much happends in the final two kilometers, Schleck can celebrate his first stage win in this Vuelta. Now it's time to count the seconds; he needs exactly 100 of them to pass Plaze, the current GC leader.
But, first we have Intxausti, who only needs 30 seconds to Plaza as he loses just under a minutes to Schleck.
Uran takes third, at 2 minutes.
Zubeldia 4th, Plaza 5th: Intxausti in the Amarillo!
Sanchez Gil 6th, Mayo 7th and 8th and 9th for Rujano and Marchante. Already 3:30 later then Schleck.
And Perez Sanchez completes the top 10, taking Perez Fernandez, Nazaret and Marquez with him in this groupe.
As his teammate Parra Pinto leads in a big grupetto, Serpa had to let the groupe go; he's not looking good... Poor Jose...
Duarte coming in not much later at 13 minutes. These must be the losers of the day...
