Vuelta a Espana: Nairo Quintana wins stage 10

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Nairo Quintana (Movistar) won stage 10 of the Vuelta a Espana atop Lagos de Covadonga and took back the leader’s red jersey by distancing all of his overall rivals in a show of strength on the 12-kilometre climb to the line.

Quintana attacked his rivals with a clear show of strength and then danced up short final climb after the flat road along the lakeside, catching and dropping Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo), who had been part of the day’s 16-rider attack. The Colombian pushed hard all the way to the line to gain precious seconds on his rivals.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) opted not to follow the early pace on the climb and was distanced with nine kilometres to go but then produced a personal time trial and huge effort on the way to the finish. He swept up and swept past many of his rivals but could not catch Quintana. Gesink proudly attacked Froome to take second place but Froome limited his losses to just 25 seconds after looking in serious trouble early on the climb.

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) attacked first and went away with Quintana with five kilometres to go but later paid for his effort when Froome caught him. He cracked as he tried to push a big gear and finished eighth, 1:05 behind Quintana.

The Movistar leader now leads teammate Alejandro Valverde by 57 seconds, with Froome up to third at 58 seconds. Esteban Chaves (Orica-Bike Exchange) fought hard to finish ahead of Contador and is fourth at 2:09. Contador is fifth at an ever more distant 2:54.

Quintana pulled on an oversized race leader’s jersey on the podium but was happy to be back in charge and back in red after a under-par Tour de France.

"What I felt today gives me more confidence to keep fighting and defending this jersey. I had very good sensations, my team worked really well, and I was motivated to win the stage. I’ve always dreamt of winning here, and today I’ve managed to do it," Quintana said post stage.

"I felt good. I saw that there weren’t many of us left, then the attacks came and I went with Alberto. Froome is still very close when you look at what’s to come. We’re going to have to keep doing what we’ve been trying to do up until now to distance him further because with that time gap he’s still the favourite. I’ve always have confidence in my ability. At times I’m better, at other times worse. But at the moment I feel better than him and that’s a real boost."

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How it happened

The Vuelta a Espana visited Lagos de Covadonga for a 20th time and it is also 20 years since Miguel Indurain abandoned his final race as a professional on the road to the mountain finish back at the 1996 Vuelta.

However there was little time for nostalgia at the start, with riders tired after an intense weekend of racing and focused on the last day in the mountains before the much needed rest day. The stage started under covered skies, and rain soon came down, worrying the riders and making the roads slick.

A nasty crash after 20km brought down several riders, with Bora-Argon 18's Bartosz Huzarski quickly forced to quit the race due to a suspected fractured collarbone. Other casualties included Kevin Reza (FDJ) and Markel Irizar (Trek-Segafredo). The Basque veteran suffered nasty face injuries and both abandoned the race.

An early attack by Davide Malacarne (Astana), Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac), Yukiya Arashiro (Lampre-Merida) and Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) formed after 20km but the peloton refused to let them get away.

A interesting break of 16 riders formed as the race passed near the coast, forcing Etixx-Quickstep to hit the front again despite their road rash.

In the move were Ben Hermans (BMC), Victor Campenaerts and Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo), Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana), Tobias Ludvigsson (Giant-Alpecin), Egor Silin (Katusha), Louis Vervaecke (Lotto Soudal), Moreno Moser, Pierre Rolland and Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale-Drapac), Vegard Stake Laengen (IAM), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis), Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural), Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo), Jan Bakelants (AG2R), and Omar Fraile (Dimension Data). All were looking for a stage victory.

Going through and off, with the Cannondale-Drapac riders working especially hard for Rolland, the gap opened to three minutes. However Etixx-Quickstep continued to defend David De la Cruz’s red leader’s jersey in an show of pride. Movistar also helped the chase, ready to take the race to their classification rivals.

The rolling roads gave way to serious climbs in the final 50km with the category 1 Alto del Mirador del Fito (6.2 km at 7.8%) causing the break to splinter. Maté and Fraile slugged it out for maximum points at the summit, with the 2015 mountains winner having one extra attack in his legs and so able to reach the summit first and take the blue polka-dot jersey once again.

The descent was almost as testing as the climb, with riders rightfully nervous of the Spanish motorbike pilots and the many curves. Dombrowski crashed at speed but got up and chased on as the break reformed and worked to try to stay away. However the peloton was determined to chase them all the way to the foot of the nasty climb to Lagos de Covadonga and the gap was just 2:45.

The climb to the finish

As the gradient kicked in on the 12km climb to the finish, the break exploded with Vervaecke attacking first. He was soon caught and Gesink and Rolland duelled with their own attacks, with the lanky Dutchman eventually getting better than the Frenchman and going clear.

Amongst the overall contenders the pace was fast and steady but too much for Froome, who spoke often to his team car before climbing at his own pace, with Davide Lopez leading up the climb. The group containing the overall contenders slowly reduced and then exploded when Contador jumped hard. Quintana was quickly with him and then attacked himself, distancing all the rivals, with only Michele Scarponi (Astana) trying to go after them.

Behind them Froome awoke and upped his cadence and his speed with apparent ease. He quickly cancelled out the time he had lost and began to catch his overall rivals. He devoured Chaves and Yates first, then caught Valverde, Contador and the remains of the break. His pace quickly proved too much for Contador and the rest.

He caught Gesink too but Quintana was out of reach, at least for today but with the time still to come and very much to his advantage, Froome is still in the fight for this year’s Vuelta a Espana.

After three days of hard climbing, Quintana and the rest of the Vuelta a Espana peloton will enjoy the first rest day of this year’s Vuelta. The racing resumes on Wednesday.

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