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Vuelta a España stage 11 – Live coverage

Stage 11 profile 2020 Vuelta a Espana

The stage 11 profile (Image credit: Unipublic)

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Vuelta a España: Primoz Roglic wins stage 10

Double or Quits: Vuelta faces back-to-back mountain challenge of Farrapona and Angliru

Vuelta a España: Stage 11 preview

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 11 of the Vuelta a España, the first of two summit finishes this weekend.

Today's stage will get underway in 25 minutes with the riders setting off from Villaviciosa in Asturias.

Four first-category climbs on the menu today means a lot of altitude gain for the riders.

The race has visited La Farrapona twice in recent years. Alberto Contador won stage 16 here in 2014 en route to winning the race, while Rein Taaramae took the stage win in 2011.

Now just under 10 minutes until the riders roll out to start the neutralised zone.

Check out our report for yesterday's stage 10 for the latest on the race. Primož Roglič and Richard Carapaz enter today tied on time after the Slovenian won the stage and took over the red jersey in Suances.

There was something going down at the start with the rollout delayed as riders held discussions at the front of the peloton.

Chris Froome was leading the discussions. He didn't look happy about whatever they were talking about at all.

It looks like Froome was acting as patron of the peloton there. He was leading discussions with the race representatives above anyone else. Movistar then moved to the front and several of their riders talked to Froome before things got underway.

Froome is speaking to the commissaire's car now. "Yesterday they changed the rule after the race," he says.

Roglič was given a three-second time gap to the main peloton yesterday, while the group just behind him was given the same time, despite there seeming to be around a second between each group. 

Here are our two news pieces on the two big contenders from yesterday's stage.

The riders are out of the neutralised zone now, though. Attacks are flying from the off.

There's a climb from the off today just a third category, a good launchpad for breakaways. 

160km to go

Speaking on Eurosport, EF climber Michael Woods confirmed that the discussion was around the time gap yesterday.

An easy way to explain today's polemica is that a UCI rule normally applies to 'stages expected to finish in bunch sprints', where only time gaps of three seconds or more are counted.

153km to go

Wellens is caught by a chase group now. Seven men with him.

146km to go

Just 23 seconds between the break and the peloton, with attacks still coming.

A group of four – Tsgabu Grmay (Mitchelton-Scott), Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo), Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) and Gino Mäder (NTT Pro Cycling) – are trying to make it across the gap.

140km to go

That group is 5 seconds behind the break. Another 30 seconds back to the Cofidis-driven peloton. The French team want polka dot jersey wearer Guillaume Martin out front to grab more KOM points.

131km to go

Cofidis continue to control the gap in the valley. Martin will have to put some work in on the climb if he's to catch the break, though.

120km to go

Périchon and Wellens jump away from the break.

Just 13 seconds between break and peloton. Polka dot jersey Martin leads a line of riders as he pushes on up the climb.

The peloton has split up on the climb. There's a different group up front but not far ahead of the peloton.

Vuelta España peloton stages brief protest over stage 10 time gap rules

113km to go

Martin followed Niklas Eg (Trek-Segafredo), Mark Donovan and Michael Storer (Sunweb), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) over the top of the climb.

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) are both with the break, too. They came across later.

104km to go

No points for Martin on that last climb. There's still a possible 30 points up for grabs, though, with three first-category climbs on the way. 

Jumbo-Visma are controlling the gap at 1:50. Not much leeway for the break. Movistar are also up front.

Nicolas Dlamini (NTT Pro Cycling) has abandoned the race.

87km to go

Here's a look at Cobertoria. The climb is 9.8 kilometres long at an average of 9 per cent. The riders have just started.

Movistar's Marc Soler has attacked the peloton on the climb. He was struggling on the previous climb, so this is interesting. Soler lies 10th overall, 3:52 down on the race leader.

The Vuelta isn't the only race going on today. The Swiss National Championships road races were also held.

Koppenbergcross is today, too. Here are our quick results from the women's race.

80km to go

Soler is really flying up the climb. He's just 20 seconds off the break. A two-minute gap closed in just over three kilometres.

Movistar, Groupama-FDJ and Sunweb all have two men in the break now.

3km to go to the top of the climb and Wellens is struggling in the break.

Martin pushes on at the front of the group, keen to secure points at the top and ensure Wellens takes none.

75km to go

Eg rolls off-road on the descent. He keeps it upright on the grass and is back on the road again.

A Movistar rider also overshot the corner just before him. Both men ok, though.

2:40 between break and peloton, which is led down the descent by Ineos and Jumbo-Visma.

64km to go

Here's what Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) had to say before the stage start.

Oliveira, Soler and Martin have split away from the rest of the break. The gap is only 10 seconds, though. The peloton lies three minutes down.

Cameron Wurf leads the peloton for Ineos.

48km to go

3:19 for the break now as they approach the bottom of the next climb, Puerto de San Lorenzo. It's 10 kilometres long at an average gradient of 8.6 per cent.

3.5km into the climb and there's no change. The break is still together, the peloton is still three minutes down.

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Oliveira is leading the break ahead of Soler. Armirail is at the back of the group but nobody is dropping on this steep section yet.

Esteban Chaves is in trouble. He has a mechanical on the climb but has a teammate with him. 

36km to go

Martin moves to the front of the break as they head over the top of the climb. Another 10 points for him. 2:30 back to the peloton with one climb to go.

Here's our preview of this weekend's racing including a look at the final climb today

24km to go

Here's a look at the climb of La Farrapona. It's 16.5 kilometres long at an average of 6.5 per cent but the steepest sections come right at the end.

UAE Team Emirates have taken to the front of the peloton, possibly for David de la Cruz, who lies 13th overall..

14km to go

13km to go

11km to go

Chaves is out the back of the peloton, 20 seconds down.

It looks like there's only around 30 riders left in the peloton now.

9km to go

8km to go

7km to go

Jumbo-Visma still have four men with Roglič.

Three CCC riders have been hanging onto the rear of the peloton for a while now.

5.5km to go

1:55 back to the peloton. Gaudu chases across to Soler. No response from Martin. Donovan struggles.

Gaugu and Soler working together on these steep sections. Storer is just ahead of Martin and Donovan behind.

4km to go

It looks like Carapaz is on his own in the peloton now.

3.5km to go

3km to go

2km to go

Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) takes the front of the peloton with a burst of speed. 

1.5km to go

Still no moves in the break.

1km to go

Vlasov attacks the peloton.

800m to go

Vlasov is 15th at 6:52 so his move is largely irrelevant.

400m to go

They're into the ad hoardings now. Final run to the line.

150m to go

That's the stage win for Gaudu. He easily beat Soler to the line.

Martin pushes on in the peloton ahead of Mas in the final few hundred metres.

Vlasov finishes a minute down, right behind Guillaume Martin.

That's Gaudu's third pro win, after a stage at the Tour de l'Ain in 2017 and one at the Tour de Romandie last year.

Hugh Carthy lost seven seconds at the line. GC also-rans Großschartner, Valverde, Chaves, Poels also lost time.

Gaudu celebrates his victory.

Here's what the race leader Primož Roglič said after the stage.

Stage winner David Gaudu:

Our full report on stage 11 is up now

Soler returns to Vuelta a España GC challenge with long-distance attack

2020 Vuelta a España stage 11 highlights - Video