Vuelta a Espana: Valerio Conti wins stage 13

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Valerio Conti (Lampre-Merida) took the biggest win of his young career in the Basque Country, taking advantage of a lethargic peloton at the Vuelta a Espana and a day of grace to win alone after being part of the break of the day.

Conti proved he was strongest in the 12-rider attack. He jumped away from his rivals with 19km to go on the rolling roads to Urdaz. As they hesitated, he opened a 30-second gap and never look round. Several chasers eventually tried to work together to Conti pushed on and opened his lead, having enough time to celebrate and savour his first grand tour stage win and only the second won of his three-year career.

Danilo Wyss (BMC) won the sprint for second place, beating Sergey Lagutin (Katusha), 55 seconds behind Conti but the chasers had let Conti give them the slip.

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The peloton finished a massive 33:55 down on Conti, one of the biggest gaps in modern racing. Nairo Quintana's race lead was not under threat, and so the overall contenders were happy to save their legs for Saturday’s big terrible mountain stage in the Pyrenees to the Col d'Aubisque. They rode steady all day, struggling to beat an average speed of 36km/h.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) remains second overall, only 54 seconds down on Quintana as the Pyrenees loom large.

Conti is one of the talented young riders quietly being developed by the Lampre-Merida team. He paid the team back for their support with his win and by pointing to his blue-fuchsia jersey.

"I knew the break would go all the way because we'd taken an enormous gap. I'd picked out today as one to go in the break and it was a good break," Conti said.

"It's my first win in a Grand Tour. I didn't have best legs at the start of the Vuelta, and today, but I kept getting better as the day went on and I took my chance in the finale."

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How it happened

The 213.4km stage across the Basque Country is the longest stage in this year's Vuelta a Espana and a true transfer stage before the tough mountain stages in the Pyrenees.

It was ideal for a breakaway, with lots of riders keen to get in the move of the day but nobody expected the break to finish so far ahead of the peloton.

The ever-aggressive Tiago Machado (Katusha) lead one of the first groups off the front but they only gained a hundred metres as the speed stayed high. Alberto Contador's Tinkoff teammate Daniele Bennati was the next rider to try his look but he was also pulled back. His teammate Michael Gogl was a little luckier and allowed to open a gap.

He was quickly joined Yves Lampaert (Etixx-QuickStep), Gatis Smukulis (Astana), Tom Stamsnijder (Team Giant-Alpecin), Sergey Lagutin (Katusha), Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Danilo Wyss (BMC), Vegard Stake Laengen (IAM Cycling), Valerio Conti (Lampre-Merida), Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18) and Romain Cardis (Direct Energie).

Trek-Segafredo and FDJ were not represented in the group and lead an initial chase but the peloton was in favour of a quiet day and let break go clear. The gap yawned out to 4:40 after 35km of racing and it would only get bigger as the day went on.

The 12 journeymen worked smoothly together as Movistar dragged the peloton along. Their gap soon rose into double figures and stabilised at 15:30 with 140km to go.

Lagutin led the break over Alto Monte Igueldo climb, after 100km, ahead of Stamsnijder and Gatis Smulkulis and so took some vital points for the mountains competition. Lagutin was first to the top of the later Lizaieta climb too, ahead of Cardis and Conti, and thus moved to the top of the king of the mountains classification, making sense of his day out. He now leads the blue polka-dot jersey competition by just one point ahead of Quintana.

The break was cheered by the crowds in central San Sebastian, with their gap now up to 18 minutes as the peloton rolled along. The break was some 10 kilometres up the road, creating problems for race organisers and local police.

The unity up front was finally broken with 55km to go when Smukulis accelerated on the climb and opened a small gap. The Latvian was quickly brought to heel, but it was the signal that the stage's endgame was about to commence. Lagutin was first to the top of the Lizaieta ahead of Cardis and Conti, and thus moved to the top of the king of the mountains classification, making sense of his day out.

The rolling roads saw the break split several times as they began to fight for the stage victory without worrying about the peloton.

Rossetto attacked off the front of the break but he was shut down by Laengen, but the pace has shot upwards. Wallays and Gogl got a 12 second-gap on the rest of the break with 30km to go but the day was far from over. With 19km to go Wyss attacks and five riders went with him: Gogl, Lampaert, Lagutin, Conti and Laengen. The others were struggling after long, hot day out front.

Then Conti surprised the riders in the move by surging away alone. He had seemed to struggle earlier but showed he was the strongest on a series of steady climbs.

Gogl, Laengen, Wyss, Lagutin and Lampaert tried to put up a chase and worked together but Conti was gone, on his way to an emotional first grand tour stage win. For everyone else it was just a long, disappointing day out.

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