In spite of grey skies Philip Deignan (Cervélo TestTeam) had a magnificent day at the Vuelta a España as he took the biggest win of his career this afternoon in Ávila. In a two-up sprint with Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) the Irishman proved his mettle, swinging off the Czech's wheel to sprint away to his first Grand Tour victory. Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) was next to cross the line, 16 seconds behind a jubilant Deignan.

"This was a very important victory for me and my confidence," said Deignan. "I won in my first year as a pro in 2005, but I've had all kinds of problems since then, with a knee injury and glandular fever. I didn't know if this was possible for me anymore. This will really help my confidence.

For the second day in a row it was the breakaway that would rule the day as Deignan was the main benefactor of participation in a 16-man group that escaped on the slopes of the Category 1 Puerto de Mijares. While it was the first ascent that would decide the split, it was the final descent, from the Alto del Boqueron, that would decide the stage.

Deignan and Kreuziger pulled away from the remainder of their breakaway companions as they made their way down from the summit of the Category 3 climb. Allied in their pursuit of the finish line, the two worked together as Fuglsang and David Herrero (Xacobeo Galicia) chased behind. As Herrero ran out of puff, advantage swung to the leaders.

Coming into the final kilometre together it was Kreuziger who fired first. Deignan matched the Czech rider's burst before launching his own successful bid for glory. Deignan also catapulted himself up the overall leader board; 18th at the start of the day, he moved up to ninth after he finished almost 10 minutes ahead of the peloton.

"It's a very big day for Irish cycling. It's been a big year for Irish cycling and this just caps it off," continued Deignan. "I cannot believe it. It just worked about perfectly in the final kilometres. I was just riding as hard as I could. At first I was trying to get time on GC. I knew Kreuziger was really strong, and when he went, I went with him."

"It was very slippery in the last kilometres. I could feel my wheel slipping around. I thought for sure Kreuziger would attack me on the cobblestones in the final kilometres, but maybe he couldn't," he explained. "Kreuziger looked strong in the group, so when he attacked, I went with him. It worked out perfectly."

Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) finished in the peloton to maintain his overall lead. On a day of restraint amongst the main contenders, the Spaniard did manage to increase his lead over Robert Gesink (Rabobank) as he finished in a small group a single second ahead of the rest of the pack. Also in the group was Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who retained what is, at this stage, a podium position.

The hills are (once again) alive with the sound of cyclists

After a day sin montaña it was back to the hills today. The day had been approached with caution by many of the heads of state; the return to a lumpy profile loomed as an opportunity for riders close to Valverde's lead to peg back time. Emphasised by a cold, wet start to the day, the anxiety within the peloton showed as the breakaway took time to form.

With 37 kilometres covered, it took the 20 kilometre ascent of the Puerto de Mijares to create a split of 16 riders, who worked hard to establish a two minute gap over the Euskaltel-Euskadi led peloton by the top of the climb.

The selected 16 were: Jesus Hernandez (Astana), Philip Deignan (Cervélo TestTeam), Bingen Fernandez (Cofidis), Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis), David Moncoutié (Cofidis), Tadej Valjiavec (AG2R La Mondiale), Rémy Di Gregorio (Française des Jeux), Mikael Cherel (Française des Jeux), Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Manuel Vasquez (Contentpolis-Ampo), Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas), David Herrero (Xacobeo Galicia), Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank), Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank) and Jesus Del Nero Montes (Fuji-Servetto).

Euskaltel maintained the pressure on the lead group as the temperature dropped in accordance with the gradients they were descending. Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) stopped with a puncture, but the interruption to his rhythm was momentary as he rejoined the lead group in time to take full advantage over a settling peloton.

At the bottom of the descent the peloton appeared content to let the breakaways enjoy their day beneath overcast skies. The slowdown was welcome relief to points leader André Greipel (Columbia-HTC) who had been unhooked on the climb. The group of stragglers that contained the German found its way back to the main group on the approach to the feedzone at 83 kilometres.

As the leaders rolled up their musettes, some four minutes ahead of the peloton, Tom Danielson (Garmin-Slipstream) decided to call an end to his Vuelta campaign. Ill and caught up in the crashes of the previous day, the American would make his next stop the hospital as he attempts to recover in time for the World Championships in just over a week's time.

The gap to the leaders extended out by a minute over the next ten kilometres. Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) and Bingen Fernandez (Cofidis) rolled over the day's two sprint points first as the breakaway continued to co-operate. Behind them, Euskaltel was now sharing the workload with Caisse d'Epargne and as the second climb started the gap began to drop.

On the lower slopes of the Category 2 Alto Collado Mediano the advantage of the leaders came down to 3:30; it was the closest they would get before the finish. As the final kilometre of the climb presented gradients of 13 and 14 percent the gap once again began to stretch towards four minutes.

On the descent off the Collado Mediano, Euskaltel appeared to be working hard to reel in the breakaway, but time gaps told a different story. By the time the Category 3 Alto del Boqueron began with 25km-to-go, the advantage was 4:30.

As soon as the road lifted, Philippe Gilbert attacked the breakaway. The Belgian was quickly pursued by a steady string of riders eager to link up with the Silence-Lotto. After two kilometres Manuel Vasquez (Contentpolis-Ampo) and David Herrero (Xacobeo Galicia) were the first to reach a now fast-fading Gilbert. As Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) and Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) joined, Gilbert was eliminated.

Manuel Vasquez (Contentpolis-Ampo), David Herrero (Xacobeo Galicia), Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) and Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) did their best to distance the remnants of the breakaway. Philip Deignan (Cervélo TestTeam) quickly asserted himself on the front of the now ten-strong chase group. As the summit approached the two groups once again formed one, slightly trimmer, group.

It wouldn't last long. With moist roads and 150 kilometres of racing to temper the breakaway's enthusiasm for the descent, it was Kreuziger and Deignan who sensed the opportunity. The Cervélo rider allowed his Liquigas counterpart to mark the line through the early corners before working with him to maintain their slight advantage over the rest.

As the roads flattened out for the run into Ávila, Jakob Fuglsang and David Herrero (Xacobeo Galicia) emerged as the only riders likely to snatch victory from the duo in front. The peloton was now almost nine minutes behind, happy enough to negotiate the final descent without incident.

With seven kilometres-to-go and fifteen seconds down Fuglsang lost the company of Herrero. The Spaniard was spent and left the Dane to set of in pursuit of Deignan and Kreuziger alone. The two-on-one battle had only one outcome as the two in front swapped off, increasing their advantage enough to exercise a cautious approach to the maze of roundabouts that marked the entrance to the city.

Deignan and Kreuziger traded long turns with one another over the final kilometres and despite the Czech rider's attention to Fuglsang's proximity behind, they entered the final thousand metres with time for cat and mouse tactics to begin.

Kreuziger's patience broke first as he leapt out of the saddle with 500 metres to go. Deignan was attentive and patiently paced his way back to his foe's wheel. As the distance to the finish closed within 200 metres Deignan swung out from cover and quickly distanced Kreuziger, whose final attack had emptied his tank.

It was a sodden, but clearly overjoyed Irishman who sat up to enjoy a three second victory over Kreuziger and Fuglsang, who finished 13 seconds further back.

Deignan had plenty of time to prepare for the podium as his former breakaway companions drifted over the line. Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) was the first of the peloton to cross the line, 9:50 behind Deignan, the Australian leading Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) over the line.

The margin to the race leader sliced Deignan's pre-stage deficit by more than half. With a buffer either side of his now ninth position overall, the Cervélo is not three days away from adding a top-ten Grand Tour finish to his debut Grand Tour stage win.

Late for roll call

With more than 100 riders failing to sign-in before the stage start in Talavera de la Reina, it was unclear how many riders had started the day's stage. As the race got under way, Vuelta organisers asked teams to provide lists of their riders and, like the weather, the picture became marginally clearer.

Garmin saw three riders head home today. Canadians Christian Meier and Ryder Hesjedal did not start and were joined approximately 80 kilometres later by teammater Tom Danielson.

Also amongst those to end their Vuelta campaigns on Thursday were: Julien Loubet (AG2R La Mondiale), Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil), Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) and Bert Grabsch (Columbia).