Fabio Aru (Astana) again underlined his huge potential when he won the third big mountain stage of the Vuelta a Espana on the climb to Santuario de San Miguel de Aralar. While the main favourites were looking at each other, the Italian launched a perfectly timed attack and managed to hold off Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Chris Froome (Sky) who arrived at the finish 6 seconds later, with Contador defending his overall lead.

 

A few months ago, Fabio Aru came of age when he exploited an intense battle between the race favourites to launch a well-timed attack on the climb to Montecampione in the Giro d’Italia and win a big mountain stage. Today he repeated that effort when he emerged as the strongest and smartest in the third big mountain stage of the Vuelta a Espana.

 

With a fierce headwind, the main favourites were reluctant to launch any attacks and this opened the door for riders a little further down in the hierarchy to try their hand. Robert Gesink (Belkin), Daniel Martin (Garmin), Warren Barguil (Giant-Shimano) and Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) all made brave attempts but none of them managed to stay clear.

 

All day Katusha had worked hard to set Joaquim Ridiguez up for a stage victory and on the final climb, the Spaniard still had Giampaolo Caruso and Daniel Moreno at his side. When Caruso had blown up, the tactical battle started as no one wanted to control and this was when Aru saw his chance.

 

The Italian responded to an attack by Navarro and easily passed the fading Spaniard. From there he started to gain ground and even though Daniel Moreno chased hard, he constantly increased his advantage.

 

Apparently, Rodriguez was not feeling good as his well-prepared attack never came and instead it was Alberto Contador who accelerated hard inside the final kilometre. Alejandro Valverde, Rodriguez and Froome were glued to his wheel while the rest of the group splintered to pieces.

 

They edged closer to Aru but the Italian had plenty of time to celebrate his win. Six seconds later, Valverde beat Rodriguez and Contador in the sprint for second to pick up important bonus seconds.

 

The big story was Froome’s impressive performance that saw the Brit only concede one second to his main rivals despite being in trouble all the way up the climb. Using his team to set a steady pace, he lost contact several times but always managed to rejoin the group.

 

Whenever the group slowed down, the Brit hit the front himself to avoid too much attacking and when the final attacks were launched, he managed to stay with the favourites. Hence, he crossed the line in 5th, losing just 1 second in the final kilometre and moving into fourth in the overall standings as Winner Anacona (Lampre-Merida) lost ground.

 

By taking bonus seconds at the finish and in the intermediate sprint, Valverde reduced his deficit to Contador to just 20 seconds but Contador remains in the lead as he goes into tomorrow’s stage 12. Consisting of 8 laps of a completely flat circuit around Logrono, it should be an affair for the sprinters but wind may wreak havoc on the peloton in a part of Spain where echelons have often been formed.

 

A key stage

After the time trial, it was time for another key stage in the Vuelta a Espana. Stage 11 brought the riders over a short 153.4km distance from Pamplona to a mountaintop finish on Alto de San Miguel de Aralar. The first two thirds of the stage was completely flat and led to the bottom of a long, gradual category 3 climb. The main challenge, however, was the 9.9km climb to the finish at 1210m of altitude

 

There were no overnight withdrawals when the riders took off from Pamplona under a beautiful sunny sky. Everybody knew that a break could have a chance in this stage and so it was no surprise that the start was extremely fast.

 

A fast start

A four-rider break escaped early in the race but Orica-GreenEDGE brought them back at the 4km mark. This opened the door for Johan Le Bon (FDJ) and Adam Hansen (Lotto) to launch an attack and 14 riders took off in pursuit.

 

That was too dangerous for Katusha and at the 9km mark, they had brought everything back together. However, Le Bon refused to give up and he launched the next attack with Guilaume Levarlet (Cofidis).

 

Quintana abandons

That was when drama unfolded. A big crash in the peloton brought down several riders, including Naio Quintana (Movistar) who was transferred to a nearby hospital in order to take care of his injuries. The crash also spelt the end for Steve Morabito (BMC) who abandoned the race.

 

At the 17km mark, things were back together but that didn’t stop the attacking. Numerous riders tried to get clear but after 30km of racing, no one had escaped.

 

A big group

Lluis Mas (Caja Rural) and Jesse Sergent (Trek) tried a move and when they were brought back, a 12-rider group took off. The move by Valerio Conti (Lampre), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r), Andrey Zeits (Astana), Paul Martens (Belkin), Manuel Quinziato (BMC), Jerome Cousin (Europcar), David Millar (Garmin), Edurad Vorganov (Katusha), Adam Hansen (Lotto), Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), Adriano Malori (Movistar) and Vasil Kiryienka (Sky) looked like a promising one but at the 40km mark, they were brought back.

 

Christophe Le Mevel (Cofidis) launched the next attack and he was joined by 24 riders to form a very big break. Another 6 riders, including Alberto Contador (Tinkof—Saxo), bridged the gap and so it was no surprise that Movistar and Astana brought it back together.

 

Bonus seconds for Valverde

The riders covered 50km in the first hour and things were still together when they reached the first intermediate sprint. Here Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) beat Contador  and Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo) to score three important bonus seconds.

 

At the 63km mark, the right break was finally formed when Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Peio Bilbao (Caja Rural) and Vasil Kiryienka (Sky) attacked. Bilbao fell off the pace and instead Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merda) and Pim Ligthart (Lotto Belisol) bridged the gap.

 

Bouet and Pinot abandon

The quartet fought hard to build a significant advantage and while Maxime Bouet (Ag2r) became the third rider to leave the race, they started to gain ground. Quickly, they had an advantage of 1.30 while Bilbao had set off in pursuit and was 20 seconds adrift.

 

Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) was the fourth rider to abandon the race as the gap reached more than 4 minutes. Bilbao joined the leaders but now Katusha took control in the peloton.

 

Katusha take control

The Russian team had kept the gap stable at around four minutes. In the feed zone at the 83km mark, the advantage was 3.45 and now they started to accelerate.

 

When Ligthart beat Kiryienka and Le Bon in the final intermediate sprint, the gap had come down to 1.55. This prompted Kiryienka to launch an attack and he quickly gained a 40-second advantage over his chasers that had lost Ligthart. The strong Belarusian managed to extend his advantage over the peloton to 3.55 as he hit the bottom of the first climb.

 

Kiryienka gains ground

Le Bon got dropped from the chase group that constantly lost ground, and both he and Ligthart were brought back by the peloton in which Sergey Chernetskii and Eduard Vorganov were setting a brutal pace. Nonetheless, Kiryienka managed to maintain a steady gap just below the four-minute mark.

 

At the top of the climb, Kiryienka was 2.30 ahead of Bilbao and Favilli, with the former leading the latter across the line. In the peloton, the fight for position had started and it was Javier Moreno (Movistar) who was first at the top 2.45 behind Kiryienka.

 

Crosswinds split the peloton

Alexandr Kolobnev led the peloton on the upper slopes of the descent before Chernetskii took over. As they hit the bottom, Kiryienka was only 1.40 ahead and the chasers had now been caught.

 

A windy section caused two big group to get dropped as the pace and fight for position was now fierce. Yury Trofimov, Kolobnev, Chernetskiy, Dmitry Kozontchuk and Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) rode on the front and Kiryienka’s advantage was now melting away.

 

Trek take control

Trek hit the front with Yaroslav Popovych and Fabio Felline before Fabian Cancellara took over, trying to position Julian Arredondo. However, it was Alessandro De Marchi and Maciej Bodnar who led the peloton onto the climb for Cannondale, 40 seconds behind Kirtienka.

 

Kolobnev immediately upped the pace and when Trofimov took over, Kiryienka was brought back. Moments later Philip Deignan took over for Sky and he set a monotonous pace that suited Froome.

 

Arredondo attacks

When Deignan dropped off, Dario Cataldo took over and this created a strange situation. While Froome briefly lost contact with the group, his teammate powered along on the front.

 

Julian Arredondo (Trek) launched his expected attack but was quickly brought back. Instead, Barguil made a move with 6km to go and he was quickly joined by Gesink.

 

Gesink gets a gap

The Dutchman left his French companion behind while Gorka Izagirre started to chase for Movistar. While Barguil fell back to the peloton, Gesink had extended his advantage to 25 seconds.

 

With 3km to go, Navarro made his first move and moments later Martin gave it a try. This time Contador responded and brought both riders back.

 

Froome yoyos off the back

The pair attacked again and now they got a gap. This was the signal for Katusha to kick into action as Giampaolo Caruso hit the front.

 

Froome briefly lost contact with the group but managed to rejoin them. Meanwhile, Navarro and Martin had both been brought back and now Gesink was also losing ground.

 

Froome hits the front

When Caruso blew up, Froome went straight to the front to make sure that the pace was kept steady. Under the 2km to go banner, however, he came into difficulty when Contador launched an attack.

 

The main favourites managed to stay with the Spaniard and so things again slowed down. This opened the door for Aru to attack but when Contador responded, Martin and Gesin were caught.

 

Aro makes his move

Froome was again dropped while Gesink exploited the slow pace to make another attack. Navarro tried again but this time Contador reacted.

 

Froome had rejoined the peloton and was suffering at the back when Navarro made his next move. Aru quickly responded and he easily passed the Cofidis rider who fell back to the peloton.

 

Froome leads the chase

With 500m to go, Aru was 8 seconds ahead of the peloton that was led by Moreno. When the Katusha rider blew up, it was Froome hitting the front and now only Valverde, Rodriguez, Contador and Rigoberto Uran (OPQS) could stay with him.

 

It was all too late though as Aru had plenty of time to celebrate his win. Contador launched strong attack inside the final kilometre but was unable to drop Valverde, Rodriguez and Froome and it was the Movistar rider who won the sprint for second to score important bonus seconds.