Sergio Henao (Sky) once again proved that he is one of the strongest riders on the steepest slopes with a powerful victory on the final 21% ramp in the third stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. He held off Carlos Betancur (Ag2r) in an incredibly tight sprint and took over the leader's jersey from Francesco Gavazzi (Astana).

With the final 400 meters rising at an average of 21%, many had expected today's third stage of the Vuleta al Pais Vasco to be a showdown between the Colombians Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Sergio Henao. The latter proved to be the strongest with a powerful surge at the bottom of the final steep ramp.

As he approached the finish, he caught the duo of Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) and Carlos Betancur who had benefited from a moment of hesitation in the peloton inside the final three kilometers to go off the front. While Caruso was unable to follow the Sky rider, Betancur clinched to his wheel.

Betancur tried to pass the his fellow countryman inside the final 50 meters and the two climbers rubbed shoulders in a slow motion sprint up the steep ramps. In the end, Henao held off the Ag2r rider by just a few centimetres to take his second victory of the season after his triumph in the queen stage of the Volta ao Algarve.

Behind, Caruso managed to hold off a select group of favourites to take third on the stage. Quintana took 4th 8 seconds behind his countryman while pre-race favourites Alberto Contador (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) and Richie Porte (Sky) were joined by Simon Spilak (Katusha) and Diego Ulissi (Lampre) 2 seconds further behind.

With his victory, Henao takes over the leader's jersey as he heads into tomorrow's queen stage. He will try to use his climbing strength to extend his advantage ahead of the final day's time trial.

Txurruka once again in the break

The 167,7km stage from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Trapagaran was expected to deliver the first showdown between the favourites. After an easy start where the riders descended yesterday's plateau, they had to tackle 4 climbs inside the final 65km of the stage. The last climb to the finish line was highly irregular, but with the a steep final ramp it was expected to be the scene of a big battle.

Many riders wanted to join the day's early escape, and attacks went thick and fast during the opening kilometres. Finally, Romain Bardet (Ag2r), Mikel Landa (Euskaltel), Omar Fraile (Caja Rural) and Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) managed to create a gap, and they were later joined by Daniel Navarro (Cofidis).

Txurruka was in the day's early escape for the third consecutive day, and he was on a mission to defend hi lead in the mountains and sprint competition. Assisted by his teammate Fraile, he made sure to take maximum points on all climbs and in all intermediate sprints and with just two road stages remaining, he seems to have sewn up victory in both competitions.

Astana set the tempo

Behind it was the Astana team of race leader Francesco Gavazzi to set the early tempo, and Egor Silin and Alexey Lutsenko swapped turns at the head of the peloton to keep the gap stable at around the 5 minutes mark.

As they hit the day's third climb, the 6,1km Alto de ka Reineta, Movistar decided to up the pace in an attempt to make tire Quintana's rivals early in the race. Jonathan Castroviejo and Jose Herrada both took huge turns on the front, and riders started to drop off the back.

As they crested the summit, the gap had been reduced to less than 3 minutes, and Movistar eased off. Instead, it was Omega Pharma-Quick Step who took up the pace-making duties. Carlos Verona and Tony Martin strung out the peloton on the flat roads as they approached the final two climbs of the day.

The break is caught

On the penultimate climb, Bardet accelerated, and Fraile and Landa were both unable to follow the pace. Landa managed to rejoin the front group, but as they passed the 10km to go banner, it was all back together as the teams all battled for position at the front of the peloton.

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) upped the tempo on the lower slopes, and he was later joined by Giro champion Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin) who was on domestique duties for his team captains Andrew Talansky, Peter Stetina and Tom Danielson. With less than 4km to go, Herrada was back on the front with Quintana close behind.

Henao put in a short acceleration just before a flatter section of the climb, but he was closely followed by Quintana and Contador. Behind, riders dropped off in large numbers, and even Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) was seen struggling at the back.

Betancur and Caruso going off the front

As they hit the flat section on the climb, the small group eased off allowing riders to rejoin. Betancur used the opportunity to slip off the front, and he was joined by Caruso. Moments later, Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana) made a solo move in an attempt to close down the duo.

Lampre upped the pace in the group to reduce the advantage of the front duo, and as soon as they hit the final steep ramp, the group exploded. Dyachenko was caught while Henao put in an amazing acceleration. Quintana tried to follow and drew clear a small group, but he had no match to the speed of his countryman.

Henao reached the front duo and dropped Caruso before he went head to head with Betancur in a thrilling final sprint.

Result:

1. Sergio Henao

2. Carlos Betancur

3. Giampaolo Caruso +0.05

4. Nairo Quintana +0.08

5. Diego Ulissi +0.10

6. Richie Porte

7. Alberto Contador

8. Simon Spilak

9. Igor Anton +0.16

10. Samuel Sanchez +0.21

General classification:

1. Sergio Henao

2. Nairo Quintana +0.08

3. Richie Porte +0.10

4. Alberto Contador

5. Giampaolo Caruso

6. Simon Spilak

7. Jacob Fuglsang +0.21

8. Pieter Weenig

9. Jose Herrada

10. Carlos Betancur