Chris Horner (Radioshack) emerged a serious overall contender in this year's Vuelta a Espana by crushing the opposition on the brutally steep Alto de Hazallanes climb. The 41-year old American attacked on the steepest section of the climb and held off Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) by a massive 48 seconds to move himself into the overall lead with a comfortable 43-second margin over his Italian rival.

Many people doubted Chris Horner when the 41-year old American said that he felt strong enough to win the Vuelta a Espana. Today he proved that he has a very good reason to be confident in his own abilities when he took a crushing stage win on the steep Alto de Hazallanas in the Andalusian mountains.

The veteran had made it into a select lead group when the steep slopes had blown the group of favourites to pieces and was riding comfortably alongside his main rivals. With 4,5km to go, he accelerated off the front with apparent ease, leaving all the pre-race favourites behind him.

Ivan Basso (Cannondale), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) combined forces in an attempt to reel in the lone American but Horner just kept increasing his lead. Early on, it was clear that the Radioshack rider was not only riding away with the stage win, he would also take the overall lead from Daniel Moreno (Katusha) who had fallen behind and was struggling to limit his losses.

Basso tried a number of accelerations but never managed to shed off his rivals. Instead, Nibali countered an attack from his compatriot and took off in solo pursuit off Horner. Those two riders kept a stable gap for the remainder of the climb but Nibali failed to get any closer to the leader. Horner crossed the line in solo fashion to take a magnificent win, 48 seconds ahead of Nibali.

Valverde made one of his trademark accelerations in the finale and reduced the deficit of the chase group to 1.02, crossing the line in 3rd position ahead of Basso, Rodriguez and Pinot. Moreno made it across the line in 12th and had to give up his leader's jersey.

Instead, it was Horner who stepped onto the podium to receive the coveted tunic and he now takes a healthy 43-second lead over Nibali into tomorrow's rest day. Racing resumes on Wednesday with another crucial stage, the 38,8km time trial in Tarrazona.

Starting at 13.10 CEST you can follow that stage in its entirety on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

A crash-marred start

The 178km 10th stage to the top of the brutally steep Alto de Hazallanas also included a passage of the difficult Alto de Monachil and was set to give the first clear indication of the winning potential of the major favourites.

The race was off to an unfortunate start as there was a big crash in the neutral zone which brought down a number of riders including race leader Moreno, Bart De Clercq (Lotto), Alberto Losada (Katusha) and Guillaume Boivin (Cannondale). While Moreno could continue the race, the latter three all had to abandon the Vuelta.

A fast start

Everybody knew that today's stage might be one where a breakaway could stay away to the finish and so the race has been off to an extremely aggressive start. The first riders to get a significant gap were Yaroslav Popovych (Radioshack), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Andre Cardoso (Caja Rural) and Mikel Landa (Euskaltel). BMC had missed the move and so they were quickly reeled in by the American team.

A little later Bauke Mollema (Belkin), Tony Martin (OPQS), Gianni Meersman (OPQS) and Grivko got a gap but this time Movistar had missed out and so the Spaniards brought it back together.

Katusha chases down a big group

Katusha got under pressure when 14 riders got a gap. Stef Clement (Belkin), Andrey Zeits (Astana), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), Georg Preidler (Argos-Shimano), Mikael Cherel (Ag2r), Dominik Nerz (BMC), Chris Anker Sörensen (Saxo-Tinkoff), Maciej Paterski (Cannondale), Javier Moreno (Movistar), Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol), Jose Herrada (Movistar), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Gianni Meersman (OPQS), Jan Barta (NetApp), Juan Jose Oroz (Euskaltel), Diego Ulissi (Lampre), Simone Stortoni (Lampre), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ), Francis De Greef (Lotto) and Jerome Coppel (Cofidis) got ahead and Katusha had no rider in that big group. Hence, the Russian team was put to work as they tried to close it down.

Clement attacked on his own while the chase group split up, Oroz and Meersman forming the first group. Those three riders joined forces and also got company from Ulissi, Preidler and Paterski while the remaining escapees were all caught.

The break is formed

Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil), Martin Kohler (BMC), Nico Sijmens (Cofidis) and Tomasz Marczynski (Vacansoleil) managed to bridge across and finally the elastic snapped. The 10 riders were allowed buil up a 6-minute gap when Katusha finally decided to chase.

Dmitriy Kozontcuk and Vladimir Gusev did much of the early chase work and 40km from the finish, the gap had been reduced to less than 4 minutes. As the battle for position intensified, the advantage kept melting away and when they hit the bottom of the Alto de Monachil, it was down to just 1.30.

Radioshack in control

Cannondale had led the peloton on the lower slopes but very soon Horner showed his intentions. He put Yaroslav Popovych on the front and the Ukranian was quickly replaced by Fabian Cancellara.

The Swiss did an outstanding job to put several riders into difficulty and a few kilometres up the climb, less than 50 riders remained in the main group. Haimar Zubeldia (Radioshack) and Warren Barguil (Argos-Shimano) had been the two first high-profile victims of Cancellara's fierce pace.

The front group splits up

In the front group, Clement, Meersman, Paterski and Kohler had all been dropped while the Vacansoleil duo of Flecha and Marczynski had done most of the pace-setting. With 32km to go, the Pole attacked and only Ulissi was able to respond.

Ulissi emerged as the strongest and left his companion behind on a very steep section while Sijmens fell back into the peloton. Meanwhile, David De La Cruz (NetApp-Endura) launched an attack from the peloton which was now led by Sylwester Szmyd (Movistar), Cancellara having finally dropped off.

A select group of favourites

When they passed the top of the climb, they were around 1 minute behind Ulissi and Valverde, Herrada, Szmyd, Capecchi, Pozzovivo, Nibali, Kangert, Brajkovic, Fuglsang, Ten Dam, Mollema, Nerz, Santaromita, Arroyo, Cardoso, Basso, Bagot, Sanchez, Anton, Nieve, Pinot, Elissonde, Rodriguez, Moreno, Caruso, Scarponi, Mendes, König, Horner, Henao, Uran, Majka, Sørensen, Zaugg and Roche were now the only riders who had managed to stay in the main group. Herrada moved to the front and led the peloton all the way down the descent.

Marczynski overtook Ulissi on the descent and Preidler did a fantastic job to bridge across to the lone Pole. Early on the final climb, Ulissi bridged across and so a front trio was formed. Oroz, De La Cruz and Flecha formed a chase trio but they were swallowed up by the Herrada-led peloton on the lower slopes of the climb.

Marczynski on his own

Marczynski attacked on his own, Ulissi set off in pursuit and Preidler fell back to the peloton. A little later Ulissi was also caught and Marczynski was now the lone leader.

When the peloton hit the steep part of the final climb with 8km to go, Herrada finished his job and Eros Capecchi (Movistar) took over the pace-setting duties. The peloton crumbled under his hard pace, Michele Scarponi (Lampre), Leopold König (NetApp) and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) being some of the first riders to drop off.

Anton launches first attack

With 6km to go, Igor Anton (Euskaltel) attacked but Nibali was quick to respond, the Italian bridging across. More riders joined from behind while Moreno was now in difficulty, left on his own behind his main rivals.

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) hit the front and did a good job to bring the main group down to just himself, Nibali, Basso, Horner, Rodriguez, Valverde, Pozzovivo, Roche, Anton, Pinot, Uran and Majka. They caught Marczynski and so it was now clear that one of the race favourites would win the stage.

Nibali creates a selection

Nibali upped the pace and Basso, Rodriguez, Valverde, Horner and Pozzovivo managed to keep up. Valverde and Pozzovivo got into difficulty but the former managed to get back on.

That was when Horner launched his move and soloed clear. Behind, Pinot, Roche and Pozzovivo all rejoined the main group but the latter quickly fell off the pace for good.

Nibali sets off in pursuit

Nibali and Basso now traded turns on the front but Horner kept increasing his lead while Roche was dangling at the back of the group. With 3km to go, Nibali made his first attack but was unable to shed off his rivals.

Basso made two unsuccessful attacks but at the end of the last one, he was countered by Nibali. The Astana captain got clear and set off in pursuit off Horner.

From then, the race evolved into a pursuit between Horner, Nibali and the chase group which was led by Basso and Pinot. Horner emerged as the strongest and took a dominant win ahead of Nibali while Valverde accelerated at the end to cross the line in 3rd.

Result:

1. Chris Horner 4.30.22

2. Vincenzo Nibali +0.48

3. Alejandro Valverde +1.02

4. Ivan Basso

5. Joaquim Rodriguez

6. Thibaut Pinot

7. Nicolas Roche +1.10

8. Igor Anton +1.25

9. Domenico Pozzovivo

10. Rafal Majka +1.52

General classification:

1. Chris Horner 40.29.14

2. Vincenzo Nibali +0.43

3. Nicolas Roche +0.53

4. Alejandro Valverde +1.02

5. Joaquim Rodriguez +1.40

6. Daniel Moreno +2.04

7. Ivan Basso +2.20

8. Thibaut Pinot +3.11

9. Rafal Majka +3.16

10. Domenico Pozzovivo +3.28

Points classification:

1. Daniel Moreno 97

2. Alejandro Valverde 81

3. Nicolas Roche 77

4. Joaquim Rodriguez 61

5. Michael Matthews 53

Mountains classification:

1. Chris Horner 18

2. Nicolas Roche 15

3. Leopold König 12

4. Daniel Moreno 12

5. Nicolas Edet 11

Combination classification:

1. Chris Horner 7

2. Nicolas Roche 8

3. Daniel Moreno 11

4. Alejandro Valverde 14

5. Vincenzo Nibali 22