Cunego conquers La Pandera

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Damiano Cunego was the first rider to emerge from the mist at the summit of the Alto Sierra de la Pandera as the diminutive Italian rode across the line, arms aloft to claim his second mountain-top stage win of this year's Vuelta a España. The Lampre rider finished 2:23 ahead of Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) and 3:08 ahead of a resurgent Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

On a damp day in Spain, a breakaway rule the roads again. Cunego and Fuglsang had both been members of an initial nine-man group that built up a lead of nine minutes over the peloton behind. As the summit finish closed, however, the fuse was once again lit on the race for overall.

Sánchez and Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia) took the biggest advantage from the day's efforts as they finished in third and fourth, respectively. Despite hints of weakness on the final climb, Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) rallied on La Pandera to finish fifth and extend his lead in the overall classification.

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Robert Gesink (Rabobank) held onto second overall as he followed the gold jersey across the line, but, for the second day in a row, the other contenders wobbled. Ivan Basso (Liquigas) and Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) made way for Sánchez, who collected a time bonus and moved up to third overall by stage's finish.

Having already snatched a victory from David Moncoutié (Cofidis) on stage eight of the Vuelta, Cunego's victory today was an ironic replica of the Frenchman's own win on stage 13. The Lampre rider wrestled free of his nine-man, stage 14 breakaway on the second last climb of the day to ride uncontested up the Pandera.

As he basks again in Vuelta glory this Sunday eve - a fortnight before the World Championships - Cunego will surely now be starting to hear the dulcet tones of Switzerland's siren worlds song.

How it unfolded

With the promise of respite from the Vuelta's Alpine assault just one day away, 157 riders left Granada bound for the summit of La Pandera, a mere 157km down the road. The most notable absentee from the start line was Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank). The two-time time trial World champion will head to this Mendrisio after a successful fortnight in Spain.

Vacansoleil's Lieuwe Westra appeared to be in a hurry to be first to the summit of the Pandera. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, there were those in the peloton with similar ambitions, and it wasn't until the 47th kilometre of the stage that a break that would stick.

Like the day before, it was a group of nine that got away: Christian Knees (Milram), Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Adrian Palomares (Contentpolis-Ampo), Gonzalo Rabanal (Xacobeo Galicia), Alan Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Bram Tankink (Rabobank), Xavier Florencio (Cervelo TestTeam) and Kevin De Weert (Quick Step).

As rain fell on the race for the first time since the race left Belgium, the leading group worked well to build up to a nine-minute advantage over the peloton, who were content to let the leaders be the first to visit the day's three climbs.

The climb of the Category 3 Alto de Huelma passed, as did the feedzone; both established time-checks aroud the 8:30 mark. It wasn't until the race closed within 40 kilometres of the finish that the day's real action began.

Several crashes on the now sodden roads seemed to provide a spark for the peloton as Euskaltel-Euskadi came to the front of the race and began to set to work on the breakaway's advantage. As the main group sliced through the town of Jaen, led by the orange-clad Basque squad, the lead had dropped below eight minutes.

As the weather cleared and the final climbs loomed, Caisse d'Epargne began to assist the chase. The work in the main bunch showed true dividends as the road tilted towards the summit of the Category 2 Alto de Los Villares, with 25 kilometres to ride. Those not best suited to the Alpine environment quickly formed the autobus as Liquigas came forward and pushed the pace in the peloton.

Ahead, Cunego and Adrian Palomares (Contentpolis-Ampo) fired preliminary attacks, yo-yoing with the leaders until the former decided enough was enough and countered a Palomares move with 14.5km to the finish. The Italian looked back once to see if anybody had an answer. His question to them was clearly rhetorical as swung his head front-and-centre and got on with the job.

Cunego's acceleration meant that he froze the 4:30 gap between himself at the peloton, which was consistently whittled down to the major players by the pace of Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas). As Cunego crested the summit, he held a 0:47 buffer to the eight-man chase group and the same 4:30 to the peloton.

After a short descent on damp roads, Cunego began the Hors Category Alto Sierra de la Pandera. The chase group and the peloton followed, 1:00 and 4:30 behind, respectively. Liquigas were making their agenda clear as Sylvester Smydz took over where Kreuziger had only recently left off.

With six kilometres to go, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil), Peter Weening (Rabobank) and Haimar Zubeldia (Astana) were let go by the leaders. Tom Danielson (Garmin-Slipstream) followed shortly afterwards as Smydz continued to set an infernal pace on the seven to eight percent gradients of the Pandera's middle sector.

Cunego looked solid as Caisse d'Epargne began to show signs of wear after a week of protecting Alejandro Valverde's lead. Those that were left of the Spanish squad had traded their positions around their leader for tickets at the back end of the Liquigas driven bus. Finally, with exactly four kilometres remaining, Ivan Basso (Liqugas) turned the key in his decidedly diesel ignition.

Without the necessary explosion the Italian never looked to shake his rivals, but he shook the tree enough to create the selection. As Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) stuck to Basso's rear wheel, Valverde was starting to drift. Sensing this, Evans and Gesink pushed their advantage and were quickly joined by Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia). Behind the improvised quartet, Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) began the process of bridging across as Valverde was again gapped by the Olympic champion.

At the end of what had been a frantic kilometre, Mosquera took his cue at the three-to-go banner and left Gesink, Evans and Basso behind. Sánchez made contact and immediately took his leave in search of Mosquera. Gesink, now aided by teammate and early breakaway rider Bram Tankink, also moved away.

Behind them, Valverde was pacing his way back. In a sign of Spanish solidarity Juan Jose Cobo (Fuji-Servetto) emptied his own tank in service of Valverde, who by now had Evans and Basso in his line of sight. He re-attached himself and promptly set to work reeling Gesink back.

With 2,500 metres to ride Sánchez and Mosquera were now destined to finish the stage together as the leaders began to pair up. The Spanish duo, followed by Valverde & Gesink and further back Evans & Basso. While it wasn't quite hand-in-hand, that would be the order in which they would finish the stage.

As the gradients kicked so did Cunego as he comfortably finished off what he had started 14.5 kilometres earlier to claim his second stage of this year's race. He was followed home by the only other survivor from the breakaway, Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank), 2:23 later. Sánchez snatched the final time bonus, two seconds clear of Mosquera.

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