Gerrans wins cat and mouse game to take the stage win

Cervélo's Simon Gerrans completed a set of Grand Tour wins as he claimed the 10th stage of the Vuelta a España from a four-man group in Murcia on Tuesday afternoon. The plucky Australian now has a stage win in each of cycling's three-week races after he finished ahead of Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Slipstream) and Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) beneath another day of glorious Spanish sunshine.

Escaping the clutches of a larger, 19-man breakaway group on the slopes of the fourth category Alto de la Cresta del Gallo, Gerrans raced to the finish in the company of Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), Hesjedal and Fuglsang.

As the quartet swung from side-to-side on the wide highway entrance to Murcia, it was Vinokourov who opened the sprint first, anxious to stamp his return to Grand Tour racing with a win. Yet, as the Kazakh faded, the Australian emerged from from his draft to finish fastest ahead of a desperate lunge from Hesjedal.

The four were followed in by members of their earlier breakaway group before the bulk of the peloton, containing most of the favourites for overall, came home, almost four minutes behind the victor.

The stage result did nothing to affect the top-five of the general classification as Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) maintained his seven-second buffer over Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto). Rabobank's Robert Gesink remains in third position, still 36 seconds behind Valverde.

With the men for overall satisfied to have protected their positions, the day belonged to Gerrans. He's built a reputation for hard-fought wins from small groups, and on the road to Murcia he stuck victoriously close to his modus operandi. As he strode to the top of a Vuelta dais bathed in Spanish evening sun, Gerrans was clearly a happy man, content that he could now add a Vuelta stage win to collection that includes stage victories at the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.

The Great Escape

As Alicante bid farewell to the 184-strong peloton in temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius this morning, Milram's Thomas Rohregger was the only rider not to accompany his contemporaries left in this year's race. The German was the sole finisher from yesterday not to begin the journey to Murcia.

This year's Vuelta has been marked by a succession of small and, until yesterday, doomed escape groups. Today, however, it appeared that the peloton was not going to allow a break to form without a proper fight.

Française des Jeux's Anthony Roux threw the first salvo as he took off as soon as flag was pulled in. The Frenchman was quickly joined by Björn Schröder (Milram), Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Dominique Rollin (Cervélo TestTeam), Mickaël Buffaz (Cofidis), Francisco Jose Martinez Perez (Andalucia Cajasur) and David Garcia da Pena (Xacobeo Galacia).

Five kilometres was all the seven were allowed before being brought back. The next group to go was the one that stuck and this time it was a big one. Assisted in their escape by Spain's formidable crosswinds, 19 riders had established a gap of more than two-and-a-half minutes after 30 kilometres.

The shorter of the two lists was the teams that hadn't made the break. BBox Bougyues Telecom, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Silence-Lotto, Xacobeo Galacia, Liquigas were the only teams not represented in a group that contained:

Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), Adam Hansen (Columbia-HTC), Arnaud Gerard (Française des Jeux), Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Antonio Piedra (Andalucía-Cajasur), Francisco Pérez (Caisse d'Epargne), Simon Gerrans (Cervélo TestTeam), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Slipstream), Leonardo Duque (Cofidis), Julián Sánchez (Contentpolis-Ampo), Adrián Palomares (Contentpolis-Ampo), Aitor Pérez Arrieta (Contentpolis-Ampo), David De La Fuente (Fuji-Servetto), Beñat Intxausti (Fuji-Servetto), Matteo Tosatto (Quick Step), Juan Manuel Gárate (Rabobank), Linus Gerdemann (Milram), Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) and Karsten Kroon (Saxo Bank).

After an hour of racing, the leaders had covered a blistering 46.4 kilometres. By then, they had opened an advantage of four minutes over the Caisse d'Epargne led peloton, with the lead still consistently increasing.

The pace cooled ever so slightly in the second hour of racing; the average returning to just over 42km/h. As the breakaway went through the feedzone, 83 kilometres through the stage, the gap back to the peloton had blown out to more than eight minutes. Vacansoleil appeared to have gotten a lecture about their lackadaisical riding via their earpieces as they soon came to the front in a vain attempt to make up for their absence from the break.

The efforts of the Dutch Pro Continental squad were rewarded with a brief and relatively insignificant reduction in the gap, but it wasn't long before the break stretched their advantage back past eight minutes.

It wasn't until the race passed the 50km-to-go mark, that the advantage of the 19 began to drop as the pace lifted in the peloton. While Vacansoleil, Liquigas and Caisse d'Epargne traded turns at the front of the peloton it was, in reality, damage control rather than any concerted effort to retrieve the leaders.

The Alto de la Cresta del Gallo loomed on the course profile. With 19 riders starting a Category 4 climb just 20 kilometres from the finish, the math didn't quite add up. Early in the climb, Linus Gerdemann (Milram) and Aitor Pérez Arrieta (Contentpolis-Ampo) had done the calculations. The duo attacked off the front, establishing a narrow gap over an Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Slipstream) led chase. Gerdemann managed to shake Pérez Arrieta loose as Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) took his turn trying to bring the German back on terms.

Shortly afterwards Vinokourov attacked. Fuji-Servetto's David de la Fuente and Beñat Intxausti then took their own turns at following the Kazakh's example. As Vinokourov battled, it was Intxausti who got closest to Gerdemann, cresting the summit of the climb just behind the Milram captain.

Unfortunately for Intxausti, his day ended in the first corners of the descent, a flat tire destroying his chances of bridging. On the rough downwards approach into Murcia it was Fuglsang, Hesjedal, Vinokourov and Simon Gerrans (Cervélo TestTeam) who were best able to cope with the rough surface. The four riders opened daylight to the remnants of the earlier breakaway as they placed Gerdemann in their crosshairs.

The four would have no doubt been both surprised and somewhat pleased to see Gerdemann standing on the side of the road just two kilometres later. Gerdemann had suffered a puncture and after receiving a neutral spare, crashed on the next corner, ruling out his hopes of a Vuelta stage win.

The four weren't about to sit up and wait. As the road flattened out for the final 10 kilometres, Vinokourov, Fuglsang, Gerrans and Hesjesdal continued to work well together. However, the harmony was broken with five kilometres-to-go as Vinokourov attempted to go clear. As the three brought him back, Hesjedal leapt clear, although as he looked back anxiously, it was evident that the Canadian would not be heading to the finish alone.

Back together with a kilometre left, the riders continued to swoop from side-to-side across the broad three-lane road that leads into Murcia from the north. As the riders regrouped on the left hand side of the road, Vinokourov took his chance. He launched his sprint as the trio behind prepared themselves for the final two hundred metres.

With one hundred metres to go, Vinokourov took one look back, slumped his shoulders and swung off. Gerrans was the first to emerge and held his nerve to the finish. The Cervélo rider thrust his arms into the sky several metres before the line, confident that he his wheel would cross first ahead of a desperate dive from Hesjedal.

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