Vuelta a España stage 11 – Live coverage

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.

Both stages feature the Puerto de San Lorenzo, which features as the penultimate climb today, while 2014 also saw the riders tackle the Alto de la Cobertoria. The final 80km or so is a like for like rerun of that 2014 stage.

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.

A Cofidis rider tried to roll out but he was called back. 

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.

The discussion seemed to be about the decision at the finish yesterday which gave Roglič the race lead over Carapaz. There's a disagreement about the timings.

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. 

There was some investigative work floating around Twitter yesterday evening which seemed to suggest the organisers made the wrong decision. Clearly Ineos see things that way.

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

Carapaz remains upbeat despite losing Vuelta a España lead

Roglic makes unexpected return to Vuelta a España race lead

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

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) is out of the peloton as he nears the top of the climb. Nobody else is with him.

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

"I think it was a mistake on the UCI commissaires' part. They initially said at the start that it would be a three-second gap as opposed to a one-second gap. Looking at the finish it should've been a one-second gap, but they said that at the start and at the finish they changed their minds," he said.

"I don't think that's fair and I don't think that you can just change the rules on a whim because that alters how we would've raced"

Woods went on to say that that the seconds lost could have a big effect on the final GC.

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.

That applied yesterday, too, despite the stage finishing with a 1.5km, 5.9 per cent climb. The protest is that the rule was changed mid-race, meaning gaps of one second or more would count.

153km to go

Groups keep trying to get away on the descent. Wellens is out front alone by 15 seconds.

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

146km to go

Clément Champoussin (AG2R La Mondiale), José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar), Ion Izagirre (Astana), Gonzalo Serrano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Magnus Cort (EF Pro Cycling), Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis), Tosh van der Sande (Lotto Soudal) are up there.

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

More riders are trying to make a move too.

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

The two attack groups have merged. Cofidis still work on the front of the peloton, 50 seconds back.

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

The riders have hit the climb now. The Alto de la Colladona is 7km at 6.5 per cent. Cofidis have closed to within 30 seconds now.

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

Chris Froome leads stage 11 protest, saying 'they changed the rule after the race'

113km to go

All that effort for Cofidis and I don't think Martin got a point over the top there.

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.

The break is around 50 seconds up on the peloton as they reach the valley.

104km to go

Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers lead the peloton. They've eased up a little now and the gap is up to 1:40. This, finally, is our break of the day.

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

Feed zone for the breakaway. It's a quiet spell in the stage as the riders approach the Alto de la Cobertoria.

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.

Stefan Küng and Elise Chabbey win late-season Swiss road race titles

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

80km to go

Soler has a minute on the peloton now. He's smack-bang in the middle of the two groups as riders fall out the rear on the climb. 6m to the top.

Movistar tried a big move on the Alto de Moncalvillo the other day but it didn't work out in the end as their man Enric Mas ended up finishing seventh, losing 54 seconds. Sending Soler up the road early is an interesting move today.

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

Martin duly leads the way over the top. 10 points for him and 0 for Wellens. 

The Frenchman now has 37 KOM points, 13 up on Carapaz and Kuss.

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

20 kilometres in the valley before the reach the next climb of Puerto de San Lorenzo.

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

"I think the reason people are talking about tomorrow is because the finish is much more decisive. You'll see potentially bigger gaps tomorrow than today.

"We'll get through today first and then we'll tackle tomorrow. I'm just taking it day by day and trying to get to the line as fast as possible."

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

The split breakaway is back together now.

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. 

Up front, Martin leads the group.

36km to go

Eg is dropped from the break. The rest of the riders are still hanging in there.

The results of the men's race at Koppenbergcross

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

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

24km to go

The break immediately start climbing again after flying down the descent. The real climb doesn't start until 16km to go, though.

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

Froome drops out the rear of the peloton as the riders hit the lower slopes of the climb.

13km to go

Jumbo-Visma back on the front of the peloton now. Armirail is in trouble in the break.

11km to go

Martin takes the front of the break. The rest of the group look comfortable at the this point, though.

2:45 back to the peloton.

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

The gap is down to 2:20 now as Jumbo-Visma keep pushing on.

8km to go

The break is in the easiest part of the climb now. A downhill, some false flat and light gradients. The tough stuff starts at around 5.5km to go.

7km to go

The gap is down to 2:10 now.

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

Dylan Van Baarle drops out of the group. Up front Soler puts in an attack.

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

25 seconds between the leaders and those dropped. Martin chases Donovan, with Storer up the road.

Amador is dropped in the peloton, 2:10 down.

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

3.5km to go

Gesink, Vingegaard, Bennett and Kuss still working for Roglič.

3km to go

Gaudu and Soler still working together up front. 44 seconds up on Martin, 2:20 up on the peloton now.

2km to go

The two Sunweb men are in between the leaders and Martin. It looks like it will be between Soler and Gaudu for the win now, though.

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

1.5km to go

Bennett and Kuss take it back up for Jumbo-Visma. It looks like they're trying to control things ahead of tomorrow and the Angliru.

Still no moves in the break.

1km to go

Gaudu does look a little stronger than Soler here. A bit more stable and comortable on the bike, if we can read anything into that.

Vlasov attacks the peloton.

800m to go

Gaudu and Soler are starting to play games. Gaudu puts in a small acceleration.

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

400m to go

Gaudu still on the front.

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

150m to go

Gaudu goes and he is clearly stronger than Soler.

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.

Dan Martin leads Mas, Roglič and Carapaz across the line. No time gains.

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.

Soler, meanwhile, jumps from 10th to sixth overall with his ride today.

Gaudu celebrates his victory.

Our brief report on the day's action is up here

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

"It was OK. It was a hard day in the mountains – the first one for now, tomorrow something more and everything under control.

"[Soler] is a super strong guy. He escape and bridged over but we didn't want to panic, we have a super strong team. You saw the guys we did a super job. In the end, of course it's one on one – so far we can manage this ourselves and so far we are doing really good."

Stage winner David Gaudu:

"I screamed because I was relieved. The legs hurt in the past few days. I was complaining that it wasn’t going so well and this has been a complicated season. We struggled at the Tour de France and we came to La Vuelta to be more ambitious.

"When Marc Soler attacked with 500m to go, I saw the headwind forced him to quickly sit down again. I waited for the last 150m and I decided to give my all. I saw he was dropped with 75m and it was pure bliss."

Our full report on stage 11 is up now

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

Spaniard loses stage 11 on La Farrapona but moves to sixth overall

2020 Vuelta a España stage 11 highlights - Video

Watch David Gaudu as he battles Marc Soler for the summit stage win