Omar Fraile (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) managed to be in the day’s escape and further consolidated the King of the Mountain jersey. Fraile obtained another 37 points, which now make 55 in total. Mikel Landa, the stage winner, is now 2nd in that classification with 25 points. José Gonçalves, the Portuguese Caja Rural-Seguros RGA rider, is having a great Vuelta and collaborated with Omar Fraile in order to earn points. David Arroyo was the first team member to cross the finish line and currently sits in 23rd place in the general classification.

Fraile described the stage as “very, very tough. I felt good right from the beginning, but by the end, I just didn’t have the energy. I managed to earn more points for the King of the Mountain classification, and now have a nice safety net. Second in place is Mikel Landa, who I trust will stay there and concentrate on helping Fabio Aru.

“It was a very, very difficult day. You just have to see how everyone has come to the finish: dead. We must be happy. Things have worked and now its time to recover. Tomorrow will be another day.

"For me the goal today was to score 30 points, and I have scored more than 30 points, so I'm satisfied. I said this day would be the key. Now we have it, and with a good result. Now it's time to think about the jersey. I'll need to use the calculator. I think with a couple of stages with a pair of first category climbs it could be done."

It is not all good news for the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team, though, as Amets Txurruka was unable to finish the stage following his fall in Stage 9. The brave Basque rider said:

“I though that, with time, I would recover from my fall, but it didn’t happen. I started the stage and saw that I couldn’t put any pressure on my right quadriceps. I had to pedal sort of twisted, pushing with the left one, I couldn’t do it, not even in the descents. I tried to see if I could turn things around but in the Coll de la Rabossa I couldn’t take it anymore and had to get off my bike.

"I’m in pain, but what hurts the most is to not be able to continue helping the team with the victories we are obtaining in the Vuelta. We’re having a great Vuelta, the level of riding is spectacular and I’m really bummed about having to go back home.

"I tried with all my might, but I just couldn’t anymore. I have a pulled muscle and swelling where the sartorius and the quadriceps meet the bone and this doesn’t allow me to make any sort of effort. This makes me very sad, I had prepared so hard for this Vuelta, I spent a whole month in high altitude, for everything to just fall apart in an instant.

"It’s very upsetting, but all I can do now is think of the classic races the team will participate in after the Vuelta in Italy and France, my mind is already on those ones, I would like to finish the year on a high point”.

Josemi Fernández, Sports Director, commented: “great stage for Omar, fulfilling his King of the Mountain objective, the stage was very tough for him and he did really well. It’s a shame about Amets, but he did enough just by finishing the stage on Monday, he didn’t want to abandon, but sometimes you just can’t continue”.