The lengths and profiles of a number of the remaining stages will be slightly different than the original posting due to fixes to one-lane roads. None of the changes were significant.
Today, Stage 10 of the Vuelta, the peloton reaches the first mountain stage and this is no gentle introduction for the riders, the stage finishes on the famous Alto de l’Angliru. The stage is 140k and before they reach the final climb they have to tackle 3 other climbs including the HC rated Cobertoria, which is 10k at 8.4%. With an HC climb at the finish and one during the stage this looks like to be the stage where the KOM competition moves from the opportunists to the true climbers.
The stage favorites are the GC riders. Madrazo will see this as his first real chance to strike back at his rivals.
A lot of interest in the break today. 12k in and 12 riders are 2’04 clear. There is a second group of 6 riders trying to bridge across but not clear if the peloton will let them go. The 12 riders in the front group are: Roman Ciccone Koshevoy Cink Zimmermann Tolhoek Madouas Miltiadis Valter Velasco Lammertink McCarthy.
KOM leader Velasco isn’t going to give up the jersey without a fight. Roman is closest on GC but he is over 8 minutes behind.
5k to the top of the first climb, the Cat 3 at Fario. The lead is down to 1’42 with the 6 additional riders at 1’12.
Velasco is dropped soon after, so his KOM defense hasn’t started well.
At the top Koshevoy takes the points ahead of Miltiadis. Behind the peloton has relented so all 18 breakaway riders should be able to join back up on the descent.
100k to go and it is a 17-rider front group. Velasco must be feeling his exertions from earlier in the race as he is still 1’36 behind. The peloton at about 7 minutes which has been where it has been hovering for a while.
The additional 6 riders joining the front are: Mavrikakis, Higuita, Sosa, Sequera, Petelin, and Martinez.
70k to go. The break ignored both sprint points and are now starting the HC climb. They lead by 5’57. Velasco still in no man’s land. Mol and cycleYorkshire doing the work in the pack.
The first attack comes from Petelin with 2.7k to go. Roman, Koshevoy, Lammertink, and McCarthy have been dropped. The peloton at 7’25.
Sosa closes down the attack and Ciccone tries.
The initial attacks don’t work and with 700 meters to the top Sequera and Zimmermann have a small gap. The peloton is at 7’47 and down to 114 riders.
Those two are able to open up their advantage and Zimmermann gets first at the top.
Full points on the climb are: Zimmermann 20 (20) Sequera 14 (14) Higuita 12 (12) Valter 10 (16) Ciccone 8 (8) Mavrikakis 6 (6) Tolhoek 5 (11) Cink 4 (4) Petelin 3 (3) Sosa 2 (2) Madouas 1 (1)
Rubio leads the peloton over 8’28 later. 99 riders left in the peloton. The break is still spread apart with the front two enjoying a 1’05 gap on the next 8.
44k to go for the breakaway, back to 14 riders at the front. Only Miltiadis, Lammertink, and McCarthy unable to rejoin. FarFetch and Moser have joined the chase. The lead is down to 7’32.
With 1k to the top of the second Cat 3, Tolhoek attacks with Cink, Sequera and Roman. Peloton has closed to 6’09.
Those 4 stay away to the top and the points go to Sequera 6 (20) Roman 4 (17), and Tolhoek 2 (13). The KOM points have been split one of the breakaway riders will need to score at the finish to take the jersey from Velasco.
20k to go to the peloton, 77 riders left. The lead is 5’08, just the front 14 left ahead, the riders in between have all been caught. Amaysim, Evonik, MOL, Tinkoff and cycleYorkshire doing the work.
The surviving breakaway riders start the fearsome Angliru with a 4’55 lead. It is 11.7k at 10.7% with the latter two-thirds of the climb nearly all in the double digits for gradient.
Immediately Tolhoek attacks and drags away a group of 6.
With just under 8k to go Ciccone attacks the front group, so far they are all able tor respond. In addition to the Italian this group includes Sequera, Tolhoek, Cink , Sosa and Mavrikakis. They have 47 seconds over the rest of the break and 6’02 on the peloton, who slowed down when they hit the climb.
6.3 k to go and Sequera has attacked. At first Sosa and Mavrikakis are able to bridge across to him but then he attacks again. MOL and Moser have started to work in the peloton and the gap has shrunk a little.
Sequera is building a lead up front but the cameras quickly switch back down the hill as with 6.7k to climb Tenorio attacks the 61-rider peloton.
Tenorio dancing on the pedals but he only has 20 seconds over the peloton which is led by Madrazo with Budenieks on his wheel. Powless, the White Jersey, and Sosnitskiy have both been dropped. Madrazo is pretty isolated, only Karnulin still in the front group for Gazelle, and he is in trouble.
4k for Sequera, his lead is 56 seconds over Sosa, 1’25 over Mavrikakis and 1’41 over the remaining breakaway riders who have regrouped somewhat. Only Martinez has been dropped. Tenorio is at 4’56.
Madrazo’s forcing splits the chase group, 21 riders are dropped including Aular, Canty (8th on GC) and Karnulin. Vlasov best placed of the Young Rider competitors. Most of the big GC riders are near Madrazo but Reis is near the back (but the further forward of the two King Power riders).
4k for Madrazo. Tenorio’s lead is 30 seconds. Most of the break in sight although Sequera still has 1’37 over the main group of breakaway riders at the top of the picture. The Madrazo group is down to 10 riders. Cattaneo, Hirt, Bennett, and Reis are the big names missing the spiit.
2.5k to go for Sequera and he is looking rough. Zimmermann has attacked the main breakaway group and is closing in on Sosa. Tenorio is reaching tail end of the breakaway group. He has a 25 second lead over Madrazo and is 2’48 behind Sequera. The dropped GC contenders have bridged back up to the Madrazo group.
Cattaneo, Bennett and Reis are dropped again by the Madrazo group. De la Cruz is with them. Just GC contenders left in that group: Madrazo, Taaramäe, Kritskiy, Haig, Hirt, Carthy, and Meintjes.
As they mix with the breakaway riders Tenorio is caught. Sequera has 1’39 on this group and 1800 meters to go. Zimmermann is 39 seconds behind him.
Tenorio attacks again, he can see all the breakaway riders and the 1k banner.
As they near the 1k banner Zimmermann reaches the front of the race. Tenorio is at 1’12 the other contenders at 1’40. Hirt has been dropped from the main chase group.
18% grades for the front two. Tenorio is just 45 seconds behind.
600 meters to go and he catches them, he has opened up a 1’02 lead over the chase group. An outstanding performance by the Spaniard today.
300 meters for the leaders and Tenorio appears to have cracked. Madrazo, Taaramäe, and Kritskiy have closed to 43 seconds. The next group is 33 seconds behind them. Bennett has fought his way back into that group.
Tenorio has enough energy left to outsprint the other two and celebrate a great win.
Zimmermann 2nd, Sequera 3rd. They deny time bonues to the other GC riders. They also take 1st and 2nd in the KOM competition as a consolation for the stage win slipping away.
Taaramäe 4th, Kritskiy 5th, and Madrazo, 6th. The gap is 45 seconds.
Sosa (1’26), Meintjes (1’26), Koshevoy (1’37), and Haig (1’37) complete the top 10.
Tenorio’s lead is now 1’13 over Taaramäe and 2’21 over Madrazo in 3rd. The expected riders have now taken their places in the top 10. The progress of the top 15 looks like this so far:
Rank After Stage
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Justo Tenorio
37
30
27
22
15
1
1
1
1
1
Rein Taaramäe
31
22
21
20
18
2
2
2
2
2
Angel Madrazo
55
32
37
28
16
11
11
10
5
3
Jack Haig
39
24
39
33
21
3
3
3
3
4
Jan Hirt
27
21
24
19
14
10
10
9
4
5
Timofey Kritskiy
49
39
44
42
34
13
13
12
9
6
Mattia Cattaneo
60
40
43
34
27
5
5
5
6
7
Louis Meintjes
46
37
36
30
19
27
28
25
12
8
Hugh Carthy
30
29
30
29
22
33
33
28
14
9
Rafael Reis
53
48
52
47
37
9
9
8
7
10
David De la Cruz
88
62
63
57
45
26
27
24
15
11
Giovanni Carboni
82
56
59
55
42
24
25
22
11
12
George Bennett
47
31
33
32
23
78
78
66
23
13
Matvey Mamykin
79
60
61
56
40
42
43
38
17
14
Alex Kirsch
36
38
42
35
31
20
21
19
13
15
Gaviria still leads the points by a long way but with none of the top young riders having a great day Roman takes the lead in that competition by a minute over fellow breakaway rider Higuita. Powless closest of the favorites at 1’57.
Gazelle’s implosion mean Tinkoff take over the team lead by 18 seconds over Amaysim.
Vuelta a España 
