Hello and welcome to live commentary of stage 18 of an intrguing Vuelta 2010.

Overall standings: 1. NIBALI, Vincenzo (Liquigas - Doimo) 74h 47' 06"; 2. MOSQUERA MIGUEZ, Ezequiel (Xacobeo - Galicia) +38"; 3. VELITS, Peter (HTC - Columbia) + 1' 59"; 4. SCHLECK, Fränk (Saxo Bank) + 3' 43"; 5. TONDO VOLPINI, Xavier (Cervélo Test Team) + 3' 48"; 6. DANIELSON, Tom (Garmin - Transitions)+ 3' 58"; 7. SASTRE CANDIL, Carlos (Cervélo Test Team) + 4' 16"; 8. SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (Caisse d'Epargne) + 5' 42"

Stage 18 result: 1. Mark Cavendish; 2. JJ Haedo; 3. Manuel Cardoso; 4. Tyler Farrar; 5. Samuel Dumoulin

Goss goes first and leads out Cavendish. Haedo follows Cavendish. Cavendish goes with Farrar nowhere and just nips out Haedo. Great win for the Manx Missile

Barredo leads the group through the first roundabout. And Matt Goss with Mark Cavendish are three and four from the front.

Cavendish sits on the left of the peloton towards the front. But he's not on the wheel of anyone HTC. He needs to sort this and quick.

Now it'll get interesting. We'll have at least three roundabouts to get through before the finish. That might cause some problems. The bunch is packed together but the main contenders all sit near the front as the sprinters begin to make themselves known. Quick Step hit the front.

The peloton are chugging along at 55kph now. Liquigas are keeping race leader Vincenzo Nibali well out of trouble at the front.

Gilbert looks round and gives up. Pity. HTC take over once with Liquigas taking it up.

Gilbert now has his pedal rate locked in. He knows that he if can get out of sight the peloton may lose track of him. Meanwhile the peloton whizzes through.

The front three are still away with Gilbert just off the main bunch too. The peloton is winding its way through Salamanca.

Philippe Gilbert jumps off the front. The former leader of the race doesn't look back. He simply puts his head down and goes for it.

As HTC motor along Goss sits in front of Mark Cavendish with Tyler Farrar tucked up in his wheel.

It's a tiny trio then keeping the peloton honest with HTC putting the hammer down at the front with Lampre nicely placed too.

The final countdown then to what could be a mass sprint. But we have a small gap to our breakaway of just three riders now - TORIBIO ALCOLEA Jose, KAISEN Olivier and BENITEZ ROMAN Jose Alberto. Brave stuff.

HTC and Garmin are back on the front again. There isn't a great deal of organisation but the pace is cranking up. The gap is 42s as we enter Salamanca.

Once we get into Salamanca the riders will do a circuit of the town before reaching the finish. It should be breathtakingly fast. Assuming the weather stays fair as it is at the moment. The gap to the leaders is 55s.

The breakaway is now just waiting for the peloton to pick them up. The lead sits at 1m. Not long now.

The breakaway of ESTRADA RUIZ Juan Javier, TORIBIO ALCOLEA Jose Vicente, PICHOT Alexandre, URTASUN PEREZ Pablo, BENITEZ ROMAN Jose Alberto, PIETROPOLLI Daniele, KAISEN Olivier and ROELS Dominik look resigned to their escape not quite having the legs. The gap continues to fall to 1m 19s.

All the teams you imagine are beginning to get themselves to the front. Quick Step now join Liquigas, HTC, Garmin and Caisse d'Epargne. All the while the gap to the eight leaders is 1m 55s.

The eight riders out front now have a time gap of 1m 39s. You fancy that isn't enough to stay away. Mark Cavendish pops up near the front of the main bunch as his HTC's colleagues take over.