Rujano solos to victory

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Venezuelan Jose Rujano picked stage nine as his day to make himself known in this year's Vuelta a Colombia.

Not only did the Loteria de Boyacá rider and 2009 Vuelta a Colombia winner's attack on the day's final climb net him both the stage win and much needed time in the deficit between him and his main rival, Indeportes Antioquia's Óscar Sevilla, but Rujano's move also dethroned Sevilla from the overall lead in the general classification.

"I'm very proud to win the hardest stage of the this year's Vuelta a Colombia," Rujano said. "I think my win showed that I'm in a good condition for the Vuelta."

Rujano came to the finish line alone, 1:28 ahead of Indeportes Antioquia's Sergio Luis Henao, after completing the Vuelta's longest and arguably most difficult stage, 229km with four mountain climbs including the final category one Alto La Virgen.

Henao, who sat in second at the day's start, takes the tri-color leader's jersey from his teammate, Sevilla.

"Today was a really hard day and it was unlucky for Sevilla with his crash because we had worked hard together to reduce the gap between us and Rujano," Henao said. "We reduced a minute on Rujano's gap, but if Sevilla hadn't crashed we could have made up two minutes."

Sevilla won't just be blaming himself for losing the GC lead as he crashed hard through one of the Alto la Virgen's tight curves, requiring a bike switch and costing him valuable time and momentum. The Spaniard finished 1:56 back of Rujano in fourth, after being edged out of the top three by Colombia es Pasión's Fabio Duarte.

The stage started amid the sounds of car horns and exhaust fumes during Bogotá's Monday morning rush hour and from the start the racing mirrored the chaos of the surrounding traffic.

The deceptively tricky Alto del Vino, just 25km from the start, caused problems right away, when Colombia es Pasión's William Muñoz crashed hard on the descent and had to retire from the race with what race doctors feared was a broken clavicle.

By the time the race reached the bottom of the descent, a full 2,000 meters below, a breakaway had formed that included the always active Marlon Pérez of GW Shimano, his teammate Juan Alejandro Garcia, Colombia es Pasíon's Victor Hugo Peña, Boyacá Orgullo de America's Mauricio Casa and EPM-UNE's Jaime Castañeda.

As usual the Indeportes Antioquia squad kept control of the peloton, but with the experience of Peña and Pérez the breakaway gained time before the second climb, where the group dropped the sprinter Pérez.

Peña, a former U.S. Postal rider and the only Colombian to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, lead the four-man break over the day's third climb, the category three Alto de la Mona, and when the group reached the bottom they had over five minutes on the main field.

However, before the break reached the bridge over the Magdalena river in Honda, another break that included 2001 Vuelta a Colombia champ Hernan Buenahora and EPM-UNE's Freddy Piamonte caught up with them.

This combined break could not find its rhythm and by the time it passed through Armero, the town destroyed by the 1985 eruption of Nevado del Ruiz volcano, the peloton reeled it back in.

The reformed peloton didn't last long though, as Rujano quickly jumped from the field and was tagged by Sevilla, Henao and Colombia es Pasión's Luis Felipe Laverde. This elite group made its way up the steep, curvy climb for a while until Rujano got antsy and jumped again.

This time only Henao reacted but due to Rujano's speed and Sevilla's crash, which forced him to wait for his captain, the Indeportes Antioquia rider let the Venezuelan escape.

Rujano finally showed glimpses of his form last year, setting a blistering pace up the climb before taking his victory lap through the plaza in Líbano.

For his efforts, Rujano jumped from 21st place, 5:04 back, to 6th place, 3:41 behind the new leader Henao.

"Tomorrow I'll try to attack to reduce more time in the general classification," Rujano said.

Sevilla now sits in second place, 43 seconds behind Henao, with Colombia es Pasión's young star Darwin Atapuma in 3rd, 3:02 back on Henao.

Sevilla won't have time to lick his wounds and will need to be in attack mode during Tuesday's queen stage that ascends the famed La Linea. Clocking in at 21km and taking the peloton over 3,200 meters above sea level, La Linea is Colombia's version of the Alpe d'Huez or the Gavia Pass and is a staple of the Vuelta a Colombia.

If La Linea isn't enough, stage 10 goes over three other categorized climbs and is 203km long. By the time the stage is over and the race is on to Wednesday's rest day the GC contenders will likely be set in stone.