Aru wins Vuelta a España stage to San Miguel de Aralar

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Astana’s Fabio Aru vaulted back into contention for a podium place at the Vuelta with a beautifully judged victory at the San Miguel de Aralar hermitage above Pamplona. After Belkin’s Robert Gesink had been reeled in by the race favourites 1.3km from glory, Aru chose the ideal moment to attack from this select group.

By the time Sky’s Chris Froome began to chase after the Italian, Aru had enough of a cushion to maintain his advantage to the line, where he celebrated his second Grand Tour stage win of the season following his Giro success at Montecampione in May.

The 24-year-old Italian described his victory as "an incredible surprise". The Astana rider added: "After the Giro d’Italia, I prepared very well for this second part of the season and I dedicate this victory to my team, my family and to my girlfriend."

Aru finished half a dozen seconds ahead of Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde, who took the six-second bonus for second place, just ahead of Joaquim Rodríguez, who just denied race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) the bonus seconds for third. After yo-yoing in and out of the red jersey group on the final climb, Froome maintained his challenge for the title as he came home just behind this trio.

Valverde’s final flourish enabled him to cut Contador’s lead to 20 seconds, with Rigoberto Urán (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) now third at 1:08 and Froome up to fourth at 1:21 as Lampre’s Winner Anacona lost ground.

The stage was bittersweet for Movistar, however. Valverde’s teammate Nairo Quintana had another nightmare day, crashing early on and quitting the race. X-rays revealed the Colombian has a displaced fracture to his right shoulder-blade, which will require an operation tomorrow (Thursday).

Valverde described the final climb as "very hard because of the [concrete] surface, and we climbed it very fast right from the bottom." Although disappointed by the loss of his ally Quintana, Valverde added that he is now in a familiar position at Movistar.

"I’ve been the leader here many times before. I’ve re-set my sights. I’ve been up there all through the Vuelta, always with Nairo, but now I will go on alone," said the Spaniard.

How it unfolded

The riders covered 50 kilometres in the first hour, which highlights how fierce the battle was to get into the day’s break. With a third of the 153km covered, that contest was continuing but Quintana and BMC’s Steve Morabito were no longer part of it having gone down in the same crash and abandoned the race.

Red jersey Contador looked particularly perky. He infiltrated one of the breaks and then contested the first intermediate sprint at Tafalla. Valverde admitted he was almost caught out by his rival, but managed to recover quickly enough to beat Contador across the line to take three bonus seconds, with the race leader having to make do with two.

After that sprint (59km) four riders finally managed to escape the peloton’s clutches: Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida), Johan Le Bon (FDJ.fr), Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Belisol), and Vasil Kiryienka (Sky). By the time Caja Rural’s Peio Bilbao had soloed across to join them, Frenchmen Maxime Bouet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) had also abandoned, the latter as the result of a virus that has been affecting him for almost two weeks.

When the five escapees passed through the feed station at 85km, their lead was just over four minutes. Katusha’s pace-setting on the front of the bunch ensured it never went beyond that.

When the break’s advantage dropped to little more than two minutes with 55km remaining, Kiryienka attacked and went clear on his own. Behind him, first Ligthart and then Le Bon fell away from the chase group on the long third-category climb of the Alto de Lizarraga. Crossing it, the Sky man led the bunch by three minutes.

It never looked nearly enough, not with Katusha clearly committed to setting Rodríguez up for the final ascent, which suited his climbing characteristics very nicely. Starting up the 10km ascent, Kiryienka led by a mere 37 seconds, and that advantage went within a kilometre.

As one Sky rider disappeared from view, several others emerged, led by Philip Deignan. The Irishman’s work whittled down the front group considerably. When he pulled aside, teammate Dario Cataldo took over with similar effect.

Yet one of those riders distanced was Cataldo’s own team leader, Froome. Had be cracked? Was he bluffing? Distanced by the lead group with 6.5km left, Froome was trying to battle back up to the back of it when Giant-Shimano’s Warren Barguil attacked off the front, followed by Gesink, who quickly pressed on past the Frenchman.

Gesink forged a lead of 30 seconds 3.5km from home. But then the big guns started to fire. Dani Navarro (Cofidis) initiated this, his attacks spurring Dan Martin into action. When the Irishman moved all the big names were in his slipstream.

Martin went again, and then a third time, which resulted in Anacona and Froome dropping back from the red jersey group. While Martin closed on Gesink, Froome battled back up to his GC rivals, then went straight past them. It was gutsy stuff from the Briton, but Contador barely hesitated before blowing right by him with 1.8km to go.

When Contador eased, Aru made a first bid to chase after Gesink and Martin. But Contador matched him, their effort bringing Martin back into line. Navarro tried his luck, his acceleration ending Gesink’s hopes but not shaking the big names.

Aru, though, saw another opportunity and powered away, leaving the rest waiting for each other to chase. Surprisingly, it was Froome who took that up having come back from a desperate position for the third time in just a few minutes.

Only time will tell if Contador and Valverde missed an opportunity to see off one of their key rivals and whether Froome can sustain his challenge in the tougher mountain stages to come.

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