Warren Barguil (Argos-Shimano) continued his amazing showing in the Vuelta a Espana when the neo-professional won his second stage of the race in a photo finish against Rigoberto Uran (Sky). Behind those escapees, a drama occurred when race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was put in difficulty by repeated attacks and ended up losing 22 seconds to Chris Horner (Radioshack).

 

Warren Barguil showed his  potential when he won last year's Tour de l'Avenir but few would have expected the young Frenchman to win two stages of the Vuelta a Espana just 1 year later. Nonetheless, the Argos rider has now become a household name in the world of cycling, having today doubled his stage win tally in one of the biggest races in the world.

 

Barguil was one of several riders to bridge across to a breakaway on the day's penultimate climb and a 23-rider group formed in the valley in between the final two ascents. Most of the teams had representatives in the front and so it became clear that the escapees would decide the stage winner.

 

Barguil attacked on the final climb to the finish and appeared to have locked up the win when Rigoberto Uran bridged across just 1km from the line. The Colombian was convinced that the Frenchman had run out of power and tried to make an immediate acceleration but Barguil had kept something in reserve and stayed on the Colombian's wheel.

 

From there it was a game of cat-and-mouse and Barguil didn't even panick when Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp) and Dominik Nerz (BMC) joined them just 300m from the line. He remained calm on Uran's wheel while the Colombian appeared to be more concerned, opening a long sprint. Barguil tried to come around and the two riders crossed the line side-by-side. Barguil was finally declared winner in what was a extremely close photo finish.

 

Behind, drama occurred when a fruitless attack by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was countered by Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). When Chris Horner set off in pursuit with Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r), race leader Vincenzo Nibali was unable to match their speed. The Italian lost ground and slipped back while Horner finally realized what was going on and put down the hammer.

 

Nibali melted completely down and was overtaken by several riders. Having stayed on the race leader's wheel, Valverde saw his chance and launched his own attack. The Spaniard overtook several riders and nearly caught Rodriguez on the line while Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Horner followed a little later.

 

Nibali fought as best he could but in the end, he lost 22 seconds to Horner. Hence, his lead has now been reduced to just 28 seconds and the Italian will be happy that tomorrow is the race's second rest day.

 

Racing resumes on Wednesday with a mostly flat stage to Burgos. The sprinters have red-circled that day but the wind may turn it into a nervous affair.

 

Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live

 

The final stage in the Pyrenees

The 146,8km stage was the third and final one in the Pyrenees. Two small climbs preceded the final category 1 climb Aramon Formigal which was not overly steep and few expected it to make too much of a difference.

 

As expected, the race was off to an extremely fast start. Early on, 10 riders got clear but they were brought back before the identities of the escapees could be confirmed. Instead, Adam Hansen (Lotto), Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil), Juan Jose Oroz (Euskaltel), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), Bauke Mollema (Belkin), Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r), Danilo Wyss (BMC) and Pieter Serry (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) got clear and they hit the first climb with a 42-second advantage over the peloton in which Lampre-Merida were chasing hard. Movistar hit the front on the slopes while Mollema, Mondory and Wyss fell back to the peloton.

 

A big group is caught

The Spanish squad brought the gap down to 15 seconds and this allowed Mikael Cherel (Ag2r), Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff), Jose Herrada (Movistar), Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha), Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Sylwester Szmyd (Movistar), Ivan Santaromita (BMC), Rigoberto Uran (Sky), KOM leader Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) to bridge across and later Angel Vicioso (Katusha), Michele Scarponi (Lampre), Eros Capecchi (Movistar), Mollema, Oliver Zaugg (Saxo-Tinkoff), Ben Gastauer (Ag2r), Antonio Piedra (Caja Rural), Benat Intxausti (Movistar) and Bartosz Huzarski (NetApp) followed suit. Edet crested the summit in first position to extend his lead in the mountains classification.

 

The group contained no less than 4 Movistar riders and was too big for Astana to accept. The Kazakh squad brought it back together at the 34km mark.

 

The break is formed

The fierce pace on the climb had split the peloton in two and at one point, the second group was 1 minute behind the first one. While they tried to get back, the attacking continued and another 29-rider group was formed before Astana once again brought it back together.

 

At the first intermediate sprint, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) saw an opportunity to pick up three bonus seconds and he did so by crossing the line in first positions. A little later, a 9-rider group slipped clear and Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural), Flecha, Dominik Nerz (BMC), Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo-Tinkoff), Martinez, Nico Sijmens (Cofidis), Huzarski, Uran and Martin Kohler (BMC) were allowed to build up a 1.25 gap. The two pelotons have merged when the peloton took a short breather but Movistar quickly started to the chase

 

Movistar send riders across

Despite the presence of a hard climb in the early part, the riders covered no less than 46,8km during the first hour and nothing slowed down when Movistar accelerated on the second climb of the day. They brought the gap down to less than 30 seconds, giving the team an opportunity to send riders across.

 

That's what they did when Benat Intxausti and Sylwester Szmyd joined the front group while more attacks were launched from the peloton. Jorge Azanza (Euskaltel) and Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) kicked off proceedings and they were joined by Niki Sørensen (Saxo-Tinkoff), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis), Maciej Paterski (Cannondale), Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Ben Gastauer (Ag2r).

 

A chase group is formed

Astana tried to control the situation with Andriy Grivko setting a hard pace in the peloton but that didn't prevet more attacks. Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Katusha), Mikael Cherel (Ag2r) and Jose Herrada (Movistar) were the next to join the chase group and later Barguil and Andre Cardoso (Caja Rural) followed. The final rider to join the group was Juan Manuel Garate (Belkin) while Azanza fell back to the peloton.

 

Over the top of the climb, Sijmens accelerated to protect the lead in the mountains classification of his teammate Nicolas Edet. Barguil showed exceptional descending skills to make it across to the front group while Meier, Garate and Cherel followed suit a little later. Sørensen and Gusev both dug deep to also make it across, meaning that a 17-rider front group had formed.

 

Astana sets a gentle pace

Astana kept the pace high for some time but as no one was any danger to Nibali's lead, they stopped chasing. Garmin was one of the few teams to have missed the move and Johan Vansummeren had a short stint on the front before leaving it to Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar) to set the pace. He disappeared quickly and instead Alessandro Vanotti (Astana) rolled gently along on the front for several kilometres, allowing the front group to build up a gap of more than 3 minutes.

 

However, there was no great cooperation among the escapees and with 22km to go, Mate, Cardoso, Paterski, Herrada, Gastauer and Kozontchuk also joined the front group, making it a 23-rider move. Behind, Euskaltel found out that the 4 Movistar riders were a danger to their position in the teams classification and so they put Juan Jose Oroz, Pablo Urtasun, Azanza and Gorka Verdugo on the front.

 

The break splits up

When they hit the bottom of the final climb, the gap had come down to 2.45 but it was clear that the escapees would decide the stage winner. Txurruka, Uran, Nerz, Barguil, Garate and Cherel quickly separated themselves but 20 riders found back together, Nicki Sørensen (who had crashed), Sijmens and Kohler the first riders to get dropped.

 

Garate launched a new attack and was joined by Barguil, Uran, Nerz, Txurruka and Cherel to form the exact same sextet as before. Martinez and Herrada got across and suddenly 18 riders were back together.

 

Barguil on his own

Garate knew that he had to get away from this lack of cooperation and so he attacked again. Cherel and Barguil joined him but moments later it was once again back toggether.

 

With 11km to go, Barguil launched an attack on a steeper section and he quickly built up a big gap. Behind, there was a constant reshuffling of the chasers as attacks were constantly launched until Cardoso, Herrada, Sørensen and Cherel separated themselves. Flecha and Nerz bridged across and so a 6-rider chase group had now formed.

 

Uran sets off in pursuit

Uran had missed the move and the Colombian dug deep to make it up to the chasers with Txurruka on his wheel. He quickly separated himself from his group but got company from Nerz and Txurruka. Those three riders remained around 30 seconds behind Barguil when the Frenchman hit the final steep 3km section.

 

Txurruka fell off the pace and a little later Nerz was also unable to keep up with Uran. It now evolved into a fierce pursuit between Barguil and Uran with the latter making the junction 1km from the line.

 

Immediately, he tried to get rid of the Argos rider but as he was unable to do so, a game of cat-and-mouse ensued. With 300m to go, Huzarski and Nerz were suddenly on their wheel and Uran opened a long sprint. Barguil just managed to come around to take his second stage win in a photo finish.

 

Brajkovic in control

Behind, Euskaltel had been joined by Janez Brajkovic (Astana) whose hard pace reduced the main group to less than 30 riders. When Kozontchuk was caught, he took a huge turn on the front but when he dropped off, the group came to a standstill.

 

Ag2r put a rider on the front but the real selection was made when Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) put down the hammer. The group splintered to pieces with several riders dropping off.

 

Valverde attacks

Valverde was the first rider to launch an attack but Nibali quickly put teammate Tanel Kangert on the front. Valverde realized that he got nowhere and he fell back to the group which now consisted of Anton, Scarponi, Arroyo, Sanchez, König, Pinot, Roche, Moreno, Rodriguez, Pozzovivo, Valverde, Nibali, Horner, Kiserlovski and Kangert.

 

Kangert kept a high pace for a littlw while until Roche launched a fruitless attack. Moreno moved ahead with Rodriguez on his wheel and sent off his team captain in a powerful acceleration.

 

Rodriguez makes a move

The Katusha leader quickly built up a gap while Pozzovivo, Horner and Roche set off in pursuit. Nibali tried to close the gap with Valverde, Pinot and Sanchez on his wheel but suddenly cracked.

 

Horner realized Nibali's difficulties and left Roche and Pozzovivo behind while Valverde and Pinot attacked the fading race leader. Everybody was now doing their utmost to gain as much time as possible on the struggling Italian.

 

Rodriguez was the first GC rider across the line but Valverde followed just a few seconds later. Pinot and Horner were next to finish while Nibali was overtaken by several riders to finish 22 seconds later than main rival Horner.

 

Result:

1. Warren Barguil 3.43.31

2. Rigoberto Uran

3. Bartosz Huzarski +0.03

4. Dominik Nerz +0.08

5. Jose Herrada +0.20

6. Mikael Cherel +0.37

7. Maciej Paterski

8. Andre Cardoso +0.40

9. Amets Txurruka +0.42

10. Chris Anker Sørensen +0.45

 

General classification:

1. Vincenzo Nibali 64.06.01

2. Chris Horner +0.28

3. Alejandro Valverde +1.14

4. Joaquim Rodriguez +2.29

5. Domenico Pozzovivo +3.38

6. Nicolas Roche +3.43

7. Thibaut Pinot +4.37

8. Leopold König +6.17

9. Samuel Sanchez +7.33

10. Tanel Kangert +9.21

 

Points classification:

1. Alejandro Valverde 118

2. Nicolas Roche 105

3. Daniel Moreno 98

4. Chris Horner 84

5. Joaquim Rodriguez 84

 

Mountains classification:

1. Nicolas Edet 36

2. Daniele Ratto 30

3. Chris Horner 22

4. Andre Cardoso 20

5. Nicolas Roche 19

 

Combination classification:

1. Chris Horner 9

2. Vincenzo Nibali 13

3. Nicolas Roche 13

4. Alejandro Valverde 18

5. Daniel Moreno 27

 

Teams classification:

1. Euskaltel 191.46.16

2. Astana +1.07

3. Movistar +1.26

4. Saxo-Tinkoff +7.05

5. Katusha +20.38