ORICA-GreenEDGE has placed Jens Keukeleire and Daryl Impey in the top ten on stage ten of the Vuelta a Espana, finishing in seventh and eighth respectively.

After a busy start to the Tour, the Australian outfit took a more conservative approach to the final stage before the first rest day, taking a back seat in the chase after have Australian Cameron Meyer in an early break.

As Giant-Alepcin and Team Movistar forced the race into a bunch kick, Keukeleire and Impey worked together to take advantage of a depleted sprint pool.

“It was meant to be pretty easy but there was a bit of a cross wind and stress so the boys rode like a general classification day,” sport director Neil Stephens said.  “There was a bit of work required in the middle of the bunch to make sure we were well placed.

“Even though it was stressful, the boys got through it well and we even had a crack in the finish.”

As the riders look forward to a well deserved rest day after an huge ten days of racing, Stephens reflected on an incredible start to the final Grand Tour of the year.

“It’s been a dream run up until now,” Stephens said of the three stage wins and six days in the red leader’s jersey. “I think we have to remember to pinch ourselves.

“We are here for three weeks, it’s been a fantastic ten days but we won’t rest on our laurels. We are not sure what we can do from here on in, even if we walk away with what we have it’s been fantastic, but were are certainly going to fight for more results.”

Colombian Esteban Chaves still sits third overall, less than one-minute down on race leader Tom Dumoulin. The 25-year-old is looking forward to the much anticipated rest day tomorrow before a huge stage 11 in Andorra.

"Today was a really fast stage. Between 40 and 50 kph," he said. "Another problem today was the humidity. It's like in Colombia. For me it's good but it's not so good for many other riders. But the most difficult part of today is the next stage, the transfer. Five hours in the bus. It will be very long.

"For now I'm happy. If people in the Giro in May had told me that I would win two stages in the Vuelta and hold the red jersey I couldn't believe it. We get to the rest day happy. Ready for the next round on Wednesday.

"Purito [Rodriguez who has designed stage 11] is crazy. A stage like Wednesday's should be held over two days! Seriously, me, Purito, Quintana, we're looking forward to this stage. Tomorrow is also important, we must pay attention to what we eat, how we rest, how we train. I hope to sleep 15 hours tomorrow!"

Caleb Ewan abandoned during today's stage.

“We’d always planned on getting him to quit round about now,” sports director Julien Dean told Cyclingnews. “We’d talked about it, he wasn’t feeling the best [Sunday], and we agreed we’d see how he felt today. With him, we really have to remember that he’s very young. People forget that too often. But he’s certainly met all our expectations here and it’s a great way to finish the season. We’re really happy with how he’s done.”