Moncoutié wins solo in the mountains

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David Moncoutié (Cofidis) claimed the second Vuelta a España stage win of his career on the summit of the Alto de Sierra Nevada this afternoon. The Frenchman took yet another of his almost traditional solo victories after he flew the coop of the day's breakaway with 28 kilometres remaining in the mountain stage.

Moncoutié was followed to the line 52 seconds later by Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia), who clawed back time on race leader Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), with an attack inside the final kilometre. Valverde finished third, 24 seconds further back.

While Moncoutié took a deserved victory, the real story of the Vuelta's 13th stage was the destruction being levelled in the general classification on the roads behind him. Valverde again extended his lead as race leader, but Gesink and Basso leapfrogged Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) to fill second and third, 0:27 and 1:02 down, respectively.

In a disastrous day for Evans. He slipped to fourth overall, 1:23 down, as a puncture on the penultimate climb wiped out his chances of finishing with leaders. Euskaltel-Euskadi's Samuel Sánchez rode strongly to finish sixth on the stage, and despite moving up to fifth overall, he could do nothing to stop the gap to Valverde from growing even bigger.

However, none of this was likely to bother one gleeful Frenchman. Moncoutié spent the entire stage ahead of the peloton and said afterwards that he had gone into the stage with the aim of securing his second successive Vuelta mountains jersey. Instead, he knocked two birds out with one hefty, mountain-laden attack. He avenged his second place finish to Damiano Cunego (Lampre-NGC) in the Vuelta's sixth stage.

"I am very happy. I looked at this mountain stage; I knew it would be hard. The objective for me was to gain points in the mountains classification," he said afterwards. "When I saw [Caisse d'Epargne's Joaquin] Rodriguez was in the group I knew he would be dangerous. I have to thank my teammate Rein Taaramae for his help today."

Nine brave souls

The race out of the seaside town of Berja kicked of with its namesake mountain, the Alto de Berja. Straight away, nine riders put up their hands for inclusion in the day's escape.

Rein Taaramae (Cofidis), David Moncoutié (Cofidis), Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank), Joaquin Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne), David Garcia (Xacobeo Galacia), Adrian Palomares (Contentpolis-Ampo), Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoliel) and Pieter Weening (Rabobank) all shifting clear on the first climb.

Not to be outdone 19 riders set off in pursuit; Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskaltel), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale), Xavier Tondo (Andalucia Cajasur), Antonio Peidra (Andalucia Cajasur), Daniel Navarro (Astana), Xavier Florencio (Cervelo TestTeam), Amael Moinard (Cofidis), David De La Fuente (Fuji-Servetto), Fredrik Kessiakof (Fuji-Servetto), Alessandro Ballan (Lampre-NGC), Marco Marzano (Lampre-NCG), Daniele Bennati (Liquigas), Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas), Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Francis De Greef (Silence-Lotto), Matthias Russ (Milram), Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank), and Matteo Carrara (Vacansoliel).

As the leaders maintained their advantage over the chase of the 19, the peloton behind was happy to let the race divide into its three separate groups. Status quo developed as the gap between the leaders and the chasers extended to almost three minutes, while the peloton drifted to more than eight minutes behind.

As Moncoutié bagged maximum points on the top of each of the day's first two climbs it was on the approach to the Puerto de los Blancares that the situation changed. As the chasers caught the nine leaders Moncoutié, Mourenhout (Rabobank), Rodriguez (Caisse d'Epargne) and Palomares (Contentpolis-Ampo) set off in front. Palomares was quickly dropped as the trio quickly build up an advantage of a minute of the now 25-odd chase group.

By the time the three leaders had reached the Blancares, they were creating a comfortable buffer of some 4:30 to those in pursuit behind. The peloton meanwhile were happy to sit much the same distance behind the chasers.

Moncoutié again led over the Blancares and with the gap to the peloton now stretching to 13 minutes, Euskaltel-Euskadi moved their soldiers to the front to contain the gap.

With 34 kilometres to ride, Moncoutié, Mourenhout and Rodriguez had 6:13 on the chase and 12:00 on the peloton. It was the latter group who began to tighten the screws as Liquigas took their turn at the front.

Moncoutié makes a mountain of the Monachil

The chase group all but imploded on the penultimate climb, the Category 1 Alto del Monachil. As the chasers began to evaporate towards the peloton Moncoutié launched his bid for glory. The Frenchman seized his still 6:30 advantage over a closing peloton as the "gold jersey group" was forming ahead of what remained of the peloton.

Mourenhout and Rodriguez both saw the better part of valour as they sat up to wait for their respective leaders, Robert Gesink and Alejandro Valverde, behind. The gold jersey group was now the selection; Valverde, Gesink, Basso, Mosquera and Cadel Evans all present and accounted for.

Behind them Samuel Sánchez was also struggling to stay in contact, but he was at least faring better than Tom Danielson (Garmin-Slipstream) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre-NGC) who had joined an every increasing group of absentees.

As Valverde's group began approached the summit of the Monachil, more than five minutes after Moncoutié, Evans punctured. The Silence-Lotto captain has looked to be struggling to that point, but he lost more than a minute as he waited for his team car to arrive with a new bike.

Next stop: Sierra Nevada

Passed by the Sánchez whilst he waited for assistance, Evans hooked up with the Spaniard on the short descent to the start of the Alto de Sierra Nevada. Ahead of them Valverde, Gesink, Basso, Mosquera were joined by Rodriguez, Mourenhout and Roman Kreuziger. Each domestique exhausting himself, before dropping back and making his own way to the finish.

Ahead, Moncoutié was steadily losing time to the group containing the leaders, but looked to have enough as he slogged his through the final kilometres. A he rounded the final corners of the stage the grin began to stretch across his face and he held his hands aloft to signal his victory.

Two kilometres behind, Mosquera launched a final attack. Valverde looked to counter as Gesink and Basso scrambled behind. Mosquera lead the trio by 0:21 with a kilometre to go. At the line he finished 0:24 ahead of Valverde, who snatched the third time bonus, with Gesink and Basso recording the real-time as the race leader.

As the adrenalin of his forced respite had begun to wane, Evans was dropped by Sánchez on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, who found his rhythm and set about limiting his losses. The Euskaltel rider chipped away at the one-minute gap to Valverde's group, in the end finishing just 0:45 adrift of Valverde. Evans finished the stage in seventh, 2:24 after Moncoutié.

Adios España

The first half of the Vuelta's 13th stage was marked by a regular roll-call of riders, including Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Tom Boonen (Quick Step) and Simon Gerrans (Cervelo TestTeam), who were calling it quits on the verge of the race's third week. The sudden exodus is not a total surprise and comes after a tough week and a clock that is ticking ever closer to the World Championships

Among those to abandon today were: Freire, Boonen, Gerrans, Dominique Rollin (Cervelo TestTeam), Davide Vigano (Fuji-Servetto), Eros Cappechi (Fuji-Servetto), Björn Schröder (Milram), Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R-La Mondiale), Sebastien Chavanel (Francaise de Jeux) and Frank Bouyer (BBox Bouygues Telecom).

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