Stage 10

The road

At the start

The long time trial, and a tiny lead

Nairo Quintana came off Valdelinares in red, three seconds ahead of Alberto Contador and eight ahead of Alejandro Valverde, with Chris Froome at 28. Today is 37 kilometres against the clock from the monastery at Veruela: a third-category climb in the first half, then a technical run down into Borja. The longest test of this Vuelta, ridden on the smallest lead in it.

How it was won

1. 126 km to go

   Contador bursts into life

   Through the tricky back streets and up to the first check at the top of the climb, the Spaniard is flying — eight seconds up on Valverde already, with Sánchez, Urán and Quintana behind.

2. 222 km to go

   The red jersey on the tarmac

   Quintana has looked sluggish all morning, and on a fast descent he loses his line, then his back wheel, then a lot of skin. He lies in the road for a minute checking his shoulder while a team car pulls up beside him; the Giro champion's Vuelta is decided right here.

3. 312 km to go

   Froome on the defensive

   Sky's leader has been losing time from the opening ramp and cannot stop it, conceding more than half a minute to a Contador who is riding like a man who has decided this Vuelta is his.

4. 47 km to go

   Three minutes at the second check

   Remounted and battered, Quintana crawls through the 30km time check three minutes off the pace, riding only to stay in the race.

5. 5At the line

   Martin wins, Contador takes over

   Tony Martin cruises to the stage. Contador pulls on red, Froome concedes over half a minute and sits fifth at 1:18, and Quintana loses 4:07 and falls to eleventh. A top six covered by 30 seconds this morning is spread over 1:37 tonight.

The result