Mission accomplished for Karpets

Caisse d'Epargne's long haired Russian rider Vladimir Karpets was for a while the virtual race leader of the Vuelta in stage 10, but his role was to ensure an easy day for his team and the maillot oro Alejandro Valverde. "I felt very well and I am happy because thanks to my presence in the breakaway, our team had not to take the responsibility of the pursuit," he said. "I think I helped on my part. In the final I tried to attack to see if I had a chance to go for the stage win but I knew it would be very difficult. On the final climb I could not cope with the continuous changes of rhythm."

Directeur sportif Eusebio Unzue was pleased afterwards. "The team was perfect today. We knew we had to be very attentive to avoid having to work too much if a break went with nobody in it. It was a very hard stage and the fact that we were represented in all the breakaways permitted us spare the team, our main aim today."