Today's 208 kilometer stage from the coastal Catalonian city of Vilanova i la Geltru to the majestic heights of the Andorran ski town of Pal at 1900 meters was always set to be the first major test of this year's Vuelta. There have been a number of quizzes so far, but the beyond category final climb to Pal proved the perfect battleground to begin the whittling process of the favorites.
Igor Anton put in a sterling display of fire and grit when he recovered from being dropped early in the final by the strong trio of Rodriguez, Nibali, and Mosquera, then passed both Rodriguez and Nibali when they cracked, then, when he finally returned to the wheel of Mosquera, took two deep breaths and attacked the ever aggressive climber. Anton took that gap all the way to the line to take not only the stage win, but the race lead - and this time by a significant number: 45 seconds.
In a frenzied opening to the day, Philippe Gilbert made his intentions clear that he wasn't done being a part of this year's Vuelta. The Belgian Worlds team leader got his nose to the line first at the day's opening intermediate sprint. The effort was enough to put him ahead of former leader Mark Cavendish. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to hold off Igor Anton at the end of the day, who also assumed the points lead with his victory in Pal. Soon after the opening flurry of aggression, the break of the day floated away comprised of only two riders: Mikael Cherel (FdJ) and Johann Tschopp (BBox).
Tschopp can lay claim to a successful break in the mountains already this year - he stole the show at the Giro d'Italia on the huge stage that raced over the Gavia and finished on the Passo Tonale. Cherel, meanwhile, at 24 years old is a rider on the rise. In the first Grand Tour of his career last year at the Vuelta, he finished a notable 25th. In 2010, his best result has been a 5th at the 2.1 Paris-Correze. Interestingly, both riders will be moving on to greener pastures in 2011: Cherel to AG2R and Tschopp to BMC.
Other early news was the abandonment of both Markus Fothen and Philip Deignan. Both of the abandons add further disappointment to what can only be described as frustrating seasons for the two young talents.
Inside 40k to go, it was all Rabobank all the time with the leading duo still riding strong six minutes up the road. They'd need every bit of that to hold off the hungry field behind. Rabobank were apparently keen to replicate the magic of a past Denis Menchov - Menchov has won in the Tour de France before in Andorra, at Arcalis.
It became immediately apparent that the duo's job in holding off the ravenous field behind was a futile one though, as the gap continued to plummet with each passing kilometer. By the time Euskaltel tried to go toe to toe with the Rabobank machine with around 25 kilometers to go, the gap was under three and a half minutes. Euskaltel were soon put in their place with Mauricio Ardila putting in big work to devour the gap - down to under two minutes inside 17k to go.
The road began to tilt upward notably around the 17k mark, and it was at that point that points leader and winless at the Vuelta man, Mark Cavendish, bid adieu to the hard charging field. There would be many more joining the Manxman in a few minutes time.
As Ardila pulled off, the field was hit with another blue and orange punch, this time, Juan Manuel Garate. Garate's pull was slightly interrupted by a sprinting Tyler Farrar. He took a single point in the day's final intermediate sprint. With that effort, it seems at least two riders have made their intentions very clear about the points competition after today's stage: Gilbert and Farrar.
With 15k to go, Omega Pharma-Lotto took over the reins from Rabobank, and the gap dropped down to just over a minute after a one time high of thirteen. Omega Pharma didn't get too much time to set up shop at the front, as Astana's Dimitri Fofonov made a hard attack and raised eyebrows due to the obvious futility of the effort.
The final 20 kilometers made it more than apparent that the climb to Pal is not a 10 kilometer one as indicated in the race bible. With 12 kilometers to go, the now Katusha led bunch were still climbing to the start of the day's final climb, with a large swath of the group long dropped.
The bite of the climb put paid to the time in the group for a number of the sprinters early on - first Cavendish, then Bennati, Hondo, Hushovd. The mass exodus off the back of the field was a rapid one as the race headed ever closer to the official start of the beyond category finishing climb with 10k to go. Just as Hushovd looked to be calling it a day, the big Norwegian made a nice recovery after going well off the back of the group with a small bunch of dropped riders. Apparently, the Garmin bound Norwegian champion is thinking about the World Championships, and one mighty effort saw the stage winner back to the rear of the peloton.
With 10k to go, Igor Anton could be seen enjoying a spot well to the back of the field with no teammates around him. Apparently, Anton wasn't too concerned about his position with the legs he was carrying in his jersey pocket. As the final climb officially began, it was all Katusha all the time with Catalonian race leader Joaquim Rodriguez tucked safely behind his blue and white clad Russian sponsored team, and still, the duo out front pressed on - only 25 seconds separating the two from the many.
The wide roads of the climb to Pal made for images akin to a bunch sprint, as the field swirled behind the hard pace of Katusha. Up ahead, Fofonov finally made contact with the leading two, but Fofonov's contact only signaled the approach of the field seconds behind his stubborn effort. Cherel and Tschopp were unfazed by the pace of Fofonov and slotted nicely on to his back wheel, but with 9k to go, the gap was under 10 ticks with Russian champion, Alexandr Kolobnev, putting in the hard work ahead of what could be yet another podium appearance at the World Championships, and more directly, setting up his race leading teammate for a big finish in Andorra.
Fofonov's mulish effort was not to be denied - he continued forward with only Tschopp as company under the eight kilometer to go banner, but the field was just a stone's throw behind. The improbable journey continued to seven kilometers, how far could he take it? Oh yes, the answer - Fofonov's adventure ended just beyond the 7k to go banner after just a few kilometers out front, while Tschopp's ended with Fofonov's demise, but after many, many more kilometers out front.
At the rear of the bunch, Oscar Freire showed that Thor Hushovd wasn't the only sprinter hanging tough at the back of the field. The rider, who is still suffering breathing problems, looked very strong heading into the final kilometers of the climb to Pal.
As the day's break was finally officially swallowed up, Tschopp's BBox teammate, Nicolas Vogondy, put in a big dig off the front. As Vogondy exploded forward, large clumps of riders were getting their tickets punched at the rear of the group. Like Fofonov before him, Vogondy's efforts looked futile at best, but BBox was once again evident at the front, so they had that going for them.
The Katushan pace setting came to an end with less than 6 kilometers to go, and it was Xacobeo-Galicia that took up the responsibility in a big way and pressed the gas down quite firmly, taking the pace up to a nasty rate of altitude gain. With 5 kilometers to go, the first casualty became apparent: Denis Menchov. After the huge amount of work put in by the Dutch team in the kilometers leading up to the major climb, Menchov's collapse was a major disappointment. There wasn't long to lament the dropping of Menchov though, as the race began in earnest inside 5000 meters to go. A few quick moves resulted in a big wallop from Ezequiel Mosquera.
The climber extraordinaire pulled out two big names: the red clad Rodriguez, Vincenzo Nibali, and coming up slowly behind, Igor Anton and Frank Schleck. Schleck's presence on Anton's wheel was a short one though - the fiery pace set by Anton to get up to the trio out front proved to be just a bit too much for the Luxembourg champion. Behind that, the field was in disarray with riders in varying states of abject suffering.
Anton's quest to get across to the group of Mosquera, Nibali, and Rodriguez soon became a fruitless one, as apparently his own pace was too much for himself. The former race leader got within a few bike lengths, but couldn't quite get the last little bit out of his slight frame. Just as Anton seemed to be falling to pieces, the rider only two seconds ahead of him on the GC, Joaquim Rodriguez, collapsed entirely. The sight of the collapse of Rodriguez gave Anton a gigantic kick in the butt, and the rider who was just moments before suffering, attacked the race leader in an attempt to get back up to the leading duo of Mosquera and Nibali.
Unfortunately for Anton's quest to get to the leading two, the distance began to creep up as Mosquera dropped Nibali inside 3k to go. Anton, however, had found a new gear. The Euskaltel leader caught and passed Nibali, and moved into second position on the road, while Rodriguez continued to suffer through a terrible episode of the crack.
Nibali was soon far off the back of the Anton's wheel, and the final two kilometers were set up to be a duel between two Spaniards: Mosquera and Anton. Mosquera looked powerful as he plowed his way to a much hoped for first ever Vuelta stage victory. Anton continued in powerful fashion as well, only a few seconds behind Mosquera - each pedal stroke bringing him closer to a return to the red jersey of leadership.
At just before the kilometer to go banner, Anton made the junction with the Galician, but Mosquera looked unperturbed as he kept up his infernal pace, but then it was Anton's turn to surprise yet again - he attacked Mosquera and immediately rode out to a significant gap. Mosquera didn't crack, but he couldn't quite hold on to the pace of Anton, but coming up from behind, Cervelo's Xavier Tondo might have put in the ride of the day about to come up on the unsuspecting wheel of Mosquera.
The three were locked in an amazing duel, separated by ten seconds at the most, none of them giving or gaining an inch, but Tondo ran out of real estate as Mosquera ran out of real estate as Anton sat up and enjoyed the stage win and Mosquera could only hang his head as that elusive stage win will have to wait for another day.
The first real adventure into the mountains made it quite clear that the list of real contenders is a much smaller one than had previously been debated. Before the day began, there were 19 riders within 2 minutes of the race lead - now, there are only five.
Stage 11 Results
1. Igor Anton (Euskaltel) 5:25:44
2. Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo) +0:03
3. Xavier Tondo (Cervelo) +0:10
4. Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d'Epargne) 0:16
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +0:23
6. Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) +0:23
7. David Moncoutie (Cofidis) +0:23
8. Inigo Cuesta (Cervelo) +0:32
9. Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) +0:32
10. Ruben Plaza (Caisse d'Epargne) +0:32
General Classification
1. Igor Anton (Euskaltel) 47:37:15
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +0:45
3. Xavier Tondo (Cervelo) +1:04
4. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) +1:17
5. Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo) +1:29
6. Ruben Plaza (Caisse d'Epargne) +2:07
7. Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d'Epargne) +2:14
8. Nicolas Roche (AG2R) +2:30
9. Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) +2:30
10. Peter Velits (HTC) +2:37