Vuelta Skelter: Skyfall

Just Tuesday’s rest day separates the riders from a stage deemed the hardest ever in Grand Tour history – but before that Andorran sufferfest there was the small matter of Monday’s stage 10, which looked like a fairly routine ride up the Costa del Azahar.

Indeed, the Sky team of Tour de France winner Chris Froome seemed so blasé about the whole thing that they allowed an unprecedented three riders up the road in what became a truly topsy-turvy day for the British outfit. Read on for all the ups and downs of stage 10...

Eyebrows were raised on Sunday when Geraint Thomas was allowed to place himself in the day’s main break for Sky. And on Monday it was the chance of three more Sky riders to put their own ambitions first for a change when a large split blew the race apart.

Sergio Henao, Ian Boswell and Salvatore Puccio were all part of the break, which was probably doomed in large part to the Colombian’s position on GC: just 3:13 down on race leader Tom Dumoulin.

And it was soon back to domestique duties for those three Sky escapees when, shortly after the race came back together, Nicolas Roche crashed on a tight roundabout with 50km remaining.

It was Roche’s second crash in as many days, but the Irishman recovered to retain his fourth place on GC after a tough opening phase of the race.

The same cannot be said about Henao, however. Having paced Roche back to the pack, the Colombian picked up a puncture ahead of the final climb. He then crashed badly on the descent, with his bike appearing to disappear underneath a barrier.

Henao eventually finished the stage almost 11 minutes in arrears to drop from 13th to 26th on GC.

But things at least finished on the up for Team Sky when their riders took to the air in a post-stage helicopter ride to Andorra ahead of the rest day. Although Geraint Thomas doesn’t look too excited by the prospect of experiencing a chopper with Froomey…

One rider was all smiles at the finish – but that’s enough about Estevan Chaves. After a messy bunch sprint between a select group following the final climb, the victory went to little-known Italian Kristian Sbaragli, who denied John Degenkolb what looked like a gilt-edged chance to take his career Vuelta tally into double figures.

And you know you’ve arrived when you get a top trump card made in your honour.

But was it Sbaragli’s first pro-win? It depends what status you give the Tour de Korea two years ago. Although it’s quite obvious what the rider himself thinks.

“My last win was in a small race in Korea and now I’m here,” Sbaragli told Eurosport. “It’s everyone’s dream to win a stage on a big race like the Vuelta.”

Now we’re not quite sure about the sausages reference but this next picture is worth including…

‘Why?’, you may ask. Well, because Sbaragli told Eurosport before he took to the podium that his girlfriend had managed to come and watch the finish in Castelleon – and by the looks of things, she managed to get her hands on Kristian’s bouquet too...

Of course, one man’s joy is another’s misery. Just ask John Degenkolb. The German was the big favourite for the win in the absence of Peter Sagan, Nacer Bouhanni and Caleb Ewan – but despite some hefty work by his Giant-Alpecin team-mates (and in particular the indefatigable red jersey Dumoulin) the 26-year-old could not deliver the goods.

But any signs of a rift were absent when one of Degenkolb’s lieutenants took to Twitter shortly after the stage…

And Degenkolb himself - who should be praised anyway for getting over the final climb still in contention - was quick to clear the air ahead of that dinner of sloppy seconds…

The unlikely size of the day’s main break was captured nicely by the all-seeing Senor Fiestina.