A blistering attack in the final climb to Sierra de Cazorla earned Esteban Chaves the Vuelta leader's red jersey back after he left it for a day to Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin). The diminutive Colombian crowned a perfect week for his Orica-Greendege team, handing them their third stage win in this edition, his second personally, one day after the sprint won by Caleb Ewan. Yet Dumoulin did not bow without a fight. The
Dutchman bravely counterattacked in the finale to take third place in the heels of Ireland's Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin). Behind them, all the GC favourites finished together, gearing up for Firday's first mountain top finish.
The start was given at 12:37 and the peloton left without David De la Cruz (Etixx-Quick Step), who suffered from a broken collarbone since the start. Australian Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal), in his 13th successive grand Tour, was the first man to move after 4 km but was pulled back three kilometers later. While the pace was nearing 50 kph, too fast for Matej Mohoric (Cannondale-Garmin), who called it quits, several attempts took place, one even involving green jersey holder Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo).
But the decisive move developed after 82 km when Miguel Angel Rubiano (Colombia), after a long chase, joined Cyril Gautier (Europcar), Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step), Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida), Peter Velits (BMC) and Stephen Cummings
(MTN-Qhubeka) in a strong breakaway group. The pack, led by Tom Dumoulin's Giant-Alpecin team-mates, maintained the gap at around four minutes. They were later joined by Alejandro Valverde's Movistar.
While the gap kept going down, Gautier was first at the top of the 3rd cat. Alto de Baeza ahead of Rubiano and Drasek (km 144.5). At the sprint of Peal de Becerro, won by Rubiano 15 km from the finish, the lead of the six had gone down to a minute. Sensing the break was doomed, Tour de France stage winner Cummings went on his own with 12 km to go.
He was only caught in the final climb when he saw Chaves fly past like a rocket. Behind him, all the protagonists of Sunday's stage to Caminito del Rey were seen trying their luck (Dumoulin, Martin, Nicolas Roche) while Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Chris Froome (Sky), Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) finished in that order in the top 10, warning that the big fight was nearing.
