Hola and welcome to live coverage of Stage 11 of the Vuelta a Espana - and it's the first major mountaintop finale of the race. So far we've had some punchy hills to force a selection, but today's 187.5km ride from Lorca to Calar Alto culminates with two Cat.1 climbs and a finish at 2,120m that should sort out the red wheat from the chaff.

Vuelta a España

Stage 11 | Mountain | Men | 30.08.2017

Completed

LorcaCalar Alto

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Live Updates

ByThe Editorial Team

Updated 30/08/2017 at 15:45 GMT

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Highlights

16:45

So, that puts Nibali up to second place on GC, 1:19 behind Froome, with Chaves dropping to third at 2:33. De la Cruz (+2:36) and Kelderman (+2:37) complete the top five ahead of Zakarin (+2:38), Aru (+2:57), Woods (+3:01) and Contador (+3:55). Lopez is now 10th place at 4:11.

16:43

So, confirmation that Lopez won the stage, Froome was second at +14 alongside Nibali and Kelderman; Bardet, Contador, Zakarin and Nieve came home +31, Atapuma +1:02, De la Cruz +1:14, Woods +1:17 and Aru +1:32.

16:40

Lopez was 4'29" down this morning in 15th place and so the Colombian will enter the top ten today - or push it close.

0km

Fabio Aru comes over 1'32" down in a group with Astana team-mate Pello Bilbao, so it's apples and oranges for Astana. Estaban Chaves is 2'05" down for Orica-Scott, so he will drop out of the podium positions at the expense of Nibali.

0km

Chris Froome pips Vincenzo Nibali for second place and the six bonus seconds. Kelderman takes fourth after an impressive ride.

0km

Victory for Miguel Angel Lopez of Astana!

0.5km

Kelderman joins Froome and Nibali - so those three will fight it out for the remaining two lots of bonus seconds at the finish. Lopez will win...

1km

Under the flamme rouge for lone leader Lopez, who looks like he will win this stage now. Nibali and Froome have waved the white flag and let the Colombian ride clear. Further back, Aru has his pain face as he rides 1'20" down, with Chaves still another 20 seconds back...

1.2km

Froome and Nibali ride in pursuit of Lopez - and the red jersey is actually out of the saddle as he begins to drop Nibali.

1.3km

Froome, Lopez and Kelderman bridge over to Nibali - and Lopez then dances clear...

1.5km

Nibali still leads but the gap is minimal and it may yet come back together again. Zakarin is on the topes, as is Bardet.

2km

Now Nibali attacks! The Sicilian breaks clear as the road ramps up. Kelderman, Lopez and Bardet lead the chase, with Zakarin, Contador, Froome and Nieve further back.

2.5km

Pellizotti zips clear - but it's neutralised by Nieve and Bardet, with Atapuma. The GC favourites seemingly happy to let the "lesser" riders duke it out.

3.5km

Pellizotti continues to bury himself for Nibali, who has Contador on his back wheel. Froome is keeping a low profile - could he be struggling?

5km

The 10-man lead group contains Froome, Nibali, Zakarin, Kelderman, Contador, Lopez, Nieve, Atapuma, Bardet and Pellizotti. They have 35 seconds on the De la Cruz group, who have dropped Aru. The Chaves group never did bridge over and rides at 58 seconds.

6km

The two chasing groups are coming together so the likes of Chaves, De la Cruz, Woods, Kruijswijk, Aru and Meintjes will be able to join forces.

7km

We've hit the gentler slopes of this climb - a welcome tonic for many of the struggling riders out there. The Aru group is still 35 seconds down and 10 seconds clear of the Chaves group.

7.5km

The break is over and Nibali has Franco Pellizotti back with him now, with the veteran Italian pulling for his Bahrain Merida leader on the front of the race.

8km

The Froome group is only 10 seconds behind Bardet and Atapuma, while the Chaves chasing group is still 40-odd seconds back.

Here's what to expect at the finish...

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