Having crashed in the sprint a few days ago, Matteo Pelucchi abandoned the Vuelta a Espana in today's stage. That leaves his IAM team with just 5 riders in the race.

The moment of truth has arrived for the Tour of Spain at the top of the Lagos de Covadonga where Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre Merida) won a solo victory, the reward for being the last survivor of an all-day breakaway.  Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) retained his red leader’s jersey despite losing five seconds to Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez, who are shaping up to be his two main rivals for the overall victory. 

For its part, IAM Cycling still languished far from the front.  Sébastien Hinault finished highest for the team in 64th place closely followed by Marcel Aregger in 66th place, in a group 23’11’’ behind, while Vicente Reynes, Jonathan Fumeaux and Pirmin Lang arrived in the gruppetto 29’58’’ in arrears.  

To make matters worse, Matteo Pelucchi, exhausted and still trying to recover from the injuries he sustained in a crash last week, abandoned the race at the first climb.
 
In the process of changing and cleaning up after the stage, in an area rather lacking in the expected World Tour amenities, Sébastien Hinault, the 40 year old veteran, succeeded in remaining lucid and upbeat in spite of his efforts throughout the day. 

“You have to hang in every day.  Getting into a break has never been so difficult, and then everything rolls à bloc.  There is still a tough week before we have finished this three week tour.  That will certainly not be easy, but, you know, it’s useless to complain.  Everyone is in the same boat.”