Stage 4

The road

At the start

Sierra Nevada, on day four

Pablo Lastras is in red at 35 years old, twenty seconds up on Chavanel, with the first of the overall favourites more than a minute and a half back. Today opens over the first-category Filabres at more than 2,000 metres and ends with a 23.5-kilometre ascent to the Sierra Nevada resort. The 5.7-percent average badly understates what that altitude does in Andalucian heat.

How it was won

1. 1153 km to go

   Seven go on the Filabres

   The break of the day forms on the slopes of the first-category Alto de Filabres, ten kilometres in, because there is nowhere flat on this stage to form one.

2. 249 km to go

   Cavendish climbs off

   On the third-category Blancares, in punishing heat, Mark Cavendish abandons the Vuelta — the second HTC rider to go home in three days, after Matt Goss on stage two.

3. 310 km to go

   Anton falls away

   Twenty-three kilometres of climbing to 2,100 metres, and Rabobank's tempo has already shed Lastras and Klöden. With ten to go Liquigas take over for Nibali, and Igor Anton, who has been hanging off the back for an hour, finally lets go.

4. 48 km to go

   Nibali tests them

   The defending champion looks comfortable and launches a short probe with 7.5 kilometres left, gets a decent gap, and then eases when the chase starts. It tells him what he wanted to know.

5. 55 km to go

   Sørensen bridges

   As Nibali is reabsorbed, Chris Anker Sørensen goes clear on his own, reaches the four surviving breakaway riders inside five kilometres and simply rides through them. Behind, Moreno is already chasing, ostensibly to set up Rodriguez.

6. 6At the line

   Sierra Nevada

   Moreno arrives on Sørensen's wheel with four kilometres left and sits there. At 400 metres he comes past on the Dane's left with enough time in hand to zip up his jersey, a first Grand Tour stage win. Chavanel takes red; Anton loses 1:36 and his Vuelta.

The result