Vuelta a España: Landa wins Andorra epic

Mikel Landa (Astana) secured the win on stage 11 of the Vuelta a Espana with memorable display in the mountains. The 25-year-old was part of the day’s early break and skipped away from his companions on the final climb of the 138km stage to hang on ahead of the fast finishing overall contenders.

Landa’s win painted only part of the picture for a dominant Astana team with Fabio Aru dropping all his rivals on the final ascent to finish second on the stage and take the leader’s jersey from Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin).

Chris Froome (Team Sky) who came into the stage with his overall ambitions reignited after a strong ride on stage 9 crashed early in today’s stage and was dropped several climbs from the finish. He came in over eight minutes down, losing any chance of winning the race overall.

Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde both lost time to Aru, while Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha) put in a dogged display to keep his overall ambitions alive.

Aru now leads Rodriguez by 27 seconds with Dumoulin a further three seconds back. Valverde is 6th at 1:52, while pre-race favourite Quintana is over three minutes in arrears.

The day had been billed as one of the most epic stages ever put together in a Grand Tour with six climbs and a summit finished packed into the 138km stage.

The action was fast and furious from the off, first with Froome’s crash and then with a significant break going clear. However the stage and the overall battle would come down to the final climb with Landa attacking the remnants of the break near the foot of the ascent.

Astana had already been leading the bunch over several of the previous climbs and although Movistar and Katusha briefly threatened the Khazak team’s dominance when Valverde and Rodriguez moved clear on a descent, when the race re-grouped Aru’s team reasserted their control with Luis Leon Sanchez and Dario Cataldo ever-present.

Aru launched his first attack inside the final 8km and brought Rodriguez and his teammate Daniel Moreno with him. Landa had a two minute advantage but Aru was in no mood to calculate – his eyes firmly focused on the red jersey. His second acceleration did in the Katusha pair, while Dumoulin’s strategy of setting a steady tempo paid dividends. While Quintana, Valverde and several others attempted to match Aru’s drive for home, the Dutch rider kept calm - a tactic Esteban Chaves later employed – to keep his top ten ambitions on track.

How it unfolded

They said it would be epic, they said it would decide the Vuelta but in the end it was all rather underwhelming but at the start, when the peloton left Andorra la Vella, almost anything seemed possible with the race tackling the Collada de Baixalis almost from the gun.

Chris Froome's crash, inside the first few kilometres, was the first flash point but of great significance was the ages it took for him to regain contact with the main field - his battered left shoulder clearly an problem.

Up ahead Romain Sicard (Europcar) and Darwin Atapuma (BMC) sparked the first move of the day and the pair set-up the groundwork for a 19-man move that also included Ian Boswell (Team Sky), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R - La Mondiale), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Ruben Plaza (Lampre - Merida), Jérôme Coppel (IAM Cycling), Javier Moreno (Movistar), Damien Howson (Orica - GreenEdge), Alberto Losada (Katusha) and Pawel Poljanski (Tinkoff - Saxo), Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Nelson Olivera (Lampre).

On the climb of the Coll de la Rabassa – the third ascent of the day – the race truly began to take shape.

Landa, finally showing the form that stood out in the Giro and landed him his move to Team Sky, took the break by the scruff of the neck and brought back Erviti, who had attacked just before the climb. The peloton trailed by close to five minutes with Team Sky, Astana and Movistar setting tempo.

Further up the climb and Sicard, Poljanski, Coppel and Boswell (Team Sky) led, with Atapuma, Olivera, and Landa eventually joining them.

The long and punishing slopes were begging to take their toll and Team Sky looked lost at sea at one point. The had been on the front but when they noticed Froome has begun to slip back they looked around unsure of their next move. Astana barely changed the tempo or trajectory, but kept the pressure on as Geraint Thomas slipped back to nurse his stricken captain.

The Tour winner went back to the medical car and despite holding the bunch at two minute for most of the climb, his challenge was effectively over. His team rallied, Mikel Nieve now their substitute leader after Roche also began to struggle.

The rain began to pour but on the dry descent the race sparked into life with a confident Valverde charging clear. Rodriguez, who helped designed the stage route, joined him and soon the pair were joined by a gaggle of teammates. Not present were the race leader Dumoulin and Aru, but the Italian had Cataldo to thank for quickly nullifying a dangerous gap of around 40 seconds before the next climb.

Dumoulin made to back to the main group, too, and despite a lack of teammates the Dutch rider held firm when Katusha and then Astana ratcheted up the pace once more.

Landa took flight with around 9km remaining and his Italian team leader followed suit soon after – almost on the same stretch of road – with Quintana, Valverde and Chaves immediately put into difficulty.

Majka and Nieve limited their loses while Ian Boswell hung on from the early break to finish a highly creditable third. Froome eventually finished over 8 minutes down and is now back in 15th place overall.

The Vuelta a Espana is quickly becoming a war of attrition and at present only two men look capable of winning it.

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