Stage 10

The road

At the start

Out of the rest day, along the coast

The Velefique finally split them: Roglič leads Enric Mas by 28 seconds and Miguel Ángel López by 1:21, while Bernal is fifth at 1:52 with Adam Yates behind him and Ineos already with work to do. Today runs west along the Mediterranean, flat all afternoon until the sharp Puerto de Almáchar, fourteen kilometres from Rincón de la Victoria.

How it was won

1. 141 km to go

   A thirty-one-man break, twelve minutes clear

   It took eighty kilometres of fighting to form and now it is enormous and unmanageable. Eiking and Martin, 9:10 and 9:39 down this morning, are the virtual leaders of the Vuelta a España.

2. 225 km to go

   The only climb of the day

   The break is caught and re-formed at the base of the Puerto de Almáchar with 25km to go. Oliveira counters and goes solo; Elissonde chases him down and is himself caught 3.5km from the top.

3. 320 km to go

   Storer again

   Into heavy crosswinds near the summit the Australian pushes on, with only Champoussin and Vansevenant able to go after him. He crests alone with twenty seconds and seventeen kilometres of descending to survive.

4. 418 km to go

   Roglič attacks from nowhere

   Twelve and a half minutes down the same mountain, on a stage nobody expected to matter, the red jersey launches an enormous solo attack. The peloton simply blows apart — Mas, López and Haig scrambling, Bernal and Yates fading backwards, Ineos nowhere to be seen.

5. 510 km to go

   The dusty corner

   Pushing for more seconds on the descent, Roglič misjudges a bend and slides across the road. He is up within seconds, but the advantage is gone and Mas, López and Haig are back on him.

6. 6At the line

   Rincón de la Victoria

   Storer takes his second stage in four days. Roglič hands the red jersey to Eiking — a rider 9:10 down this morning — and quietly takes 37 seconds out of Bernal and Yates anyway.

The result