Erviti descends well to claim Vuelta stage
Caisse d'Epargne's Imanol Erviti claimed the second Vuelta a Espana stage win of his career on Tuesday after a strong descent down the Alto de Rat Penat.
Erviti finished six seconds ahead of Cofidis' Romain Zingle and Greg Van Avermaet of Omega Pharma-Lotto.
I accelerated a little on the descent and I quickly found myself with a few metres of a gap,” Erviti told the press after the victory. “I know that I’m a good rouleur and my thing is attacking from distance. Behind, they looked at one another and that was my chance.”
All about the climb
Stage 10 of the Vuelta came after a day of rest on Monday. Recharged, the line-up faced a 174km stretch from Tarragona to Vilanova i la Geltru in Catalonia.
Were it not for the Alto de Rat Penat's position 30km before the finish, the stage would have suited the sprinters of the Vuelta well. But the 4.4km climb with an average incline of 10.8 percent sought to test even the most experienced climbers as they approached the finish line.
The action in Tuesday's stage was reserved for the final moments. Erviti was one of eleven riders that began their ascent two minutes and 50 seconds ahead of the peloton, but it wasn't on the uphill stretch that Erviti would make his presence felt.
Andalucia-Cajasur's Javier Moreno and Christophe Le Mevel of FDJ led the charge up the mountain in front of the peloton, but their lead over the main pack began to narrow as they got further up the mountain.
With Katusha and Vladimir Karpets advancing persistently at the front of the peloton, an attack on the leaders seemed inevitable, but the breakaway grouping ahead ended up proving too strong.
After 154km, Erviti began to advance as the descent briefly turned uphill, and the Spaniard managed to hold on to his advantage until the finish line. At most, Erviti had a margin of 80 seconds, and no rider ever looked likely of catching up.
Rodriguez finally leads general classification
Katusha's Joaquin Rodriquez overtook fellow Spaniard Igor Anton in the overall standings by finishing 25th in the stage. Rodriguez will wear the red jersey during Wednesday's stage.
“It’s sensational. The value of this jersey is even higher because of the hard work we’ve done to get it," Rodriguez, who has come very close to overall lead after several of the previous stages, said after the race.
Anton trails him by two seconds in the overall standings while Liquigas-Doimo's Italian rider Vincenzo Nibali is in third place, four seconds behind Rodriquez.
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