The former ITT world champion Fabian Cancellara thinks it was a strange day with a lot of chaos.

“It was an unexpected sprint, actually, and rather a strange day. Tony Martin was out all day and the sprinters’ teams needed to be working hard to bring him back. But in the end it was only two teams working so there was plenty of chaos at the end with no one in total control.  We were with Chris, Haimar and Robert in the front and soon enough I realized it was going to be hard to bring them back, but we were still up there in a good position. I felt pretty good and decided I might as well give it a try. I went too far out but as a non-sprinter, I think I reacted fairly well and put up a big sprint. It was a nice effort and it has boosted my confidence that there is good power in my legs.” 

Barreling down the road to catch fast man Tony Martin, Fabian Cancellara saw the chance to power up the middle for a possible stage win. Staying in the wheel and coming around at a good moment was stage winner and Danish road champion Michael Mørkøv of Saxo-Tinkoff.  Ariel Maximiliano Richeze (Lampre-Merida) took second with Fabian into third. Coming from a track background, it was a first Grand Tour stage win for the Olympic silver medalist. 

“I can be up there with the best but I’ve suffered on some of the days, like yesterday. Today was perfect for me with the rolling parcours. Tomorrow my legs will hurt at the start from the effort, but that’s ok. The guys asked me why I didn’t ask for help but it was something unexpected. I was just in a good position at 2km to go and I moved up and then decided to go for the sprint. It’s good for the morale of the team.” 

Chris Horner still holds second place to Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) with teammates Haimar Zubeldia and Robert Kiserlovski in fourth and 6th, putting three strong riders in the top ten.

World time trial champion Tony Martin spent most of the 175km from Guijuelo to Cáceres alone in a solo breakaway. At one point the teams of the sprinters closed the gap to 3-seconds, but the time trial specialist managed to widen his lead once again, opening up nine seconds at the 2km banner. But in the final kilometer when Cancellara exploded after him with others on his wheel, the gap was quickly erased and Martin slipped to seventh on the stage behind Mørkøv's winning time of 3:54:15.

Friday brings the first week of racing to a close with another stage for the sprinters. The stage begins in Almendralejo and Mairena de Aljarafe at 206km. On Saturday the Vuelta heads to the mountains with a category 1 uphill finish.