Today's stage: 211 km marathon stage with the final summit finish of this year's Vuelta
Who won today's stage? Chris Froome (Team Sky) beat overall leader Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) to the line after dropping everyone else on the final climb.
What matters in the GC race? Froome pulled within 13” of Cobo with his time bons while his teammate Bradley Wiggins surrendered his chance at overall victory. He still is likely for the podium, currently sitting in 3rd, 24” ahead of Bauke Mollema.
What matters in the other competitions?
Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Mollema took the lead in this competition from the injured Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). Cobo is now second.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – David Moncoutie's (Cofidis) lead remains nearly insurmountable. Cobo is now 2nd.
White Jersey (Allround) – Cobo is the leader here, but Froome has passed Mollema for 2nd and will wear the jersey tomorrow as Cobo will be in the leaders Red jersey.
Biggest surprise: Team Sky finally worked for Froome. For this whole race, Team Sky had been working for Wiggins. Even when Froome was the leader. It likely cost them the overall victory in this race.
Biggest disappointment: Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) finished his implosion from being in contention for the victory to irrelevant. He lost over 17 minutes today and he now is in 30th overall, over 40 minustes behind Cobo.
Other items of note: We had six retirements today. Notable among them Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) who didn't take the start to prep for the World Championship Time Trial and stage 14 winner Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) who has been ill and abandoned... Geox-TMC has locked up the team competition now There are no more summit finishes and Geox has a 10 minute lead. Only two Leopard-Trek riders surviving a breakaway could possibly reel in Geox.
What is coming tomorrow? A medium mountain stage with the final cat. 3 summiting 40km from the finish. I expect no changes in the GC and a breakaway to own the day.
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