Hello dear Eurosport Live Text fans, I must apologise once again that it is not Felix Lowe in the hotseat today, but rather I, Tom Owen. Felix will be back on Tuesday, I promise.

It doesn't muck around either, we're straight into the brutally steep gradients

The break is on the climb and Tobias Ludvigson is leading them up.

Expect the peloton to be decimated by this climb. It's short, steep and narrow, effectively removing any drafting benefit of riding in a bunch.

The break has just passed a branch of mas y mas, my personal favourite Spanish supermercado. Other supermercados are available.

Gap drops below two minutes.

Team Sky are spread right across the road here. They aren't on the front of the peloton, but they're effectively blocking any attacks out of the bunch behind.

The break is fracturing as soon as the road tilts up, but they're not even on the categorised climb yet.

They're rattling along now in the peloton and Cannondale is taking ever-increasing chunks of time out of the break's lead.

Could there be an attack over the summit of the Cumbre del Sol the first time out of the GC group? Contador has Markel Irizar up ahead to bridge to, a tactic we saw him employ liberally in the Tour de France.

I am not expecting this breakaway group to stay together over the climb. With a stage win at stake, there'll be no waiting up for the slower riders. Bear in mind I also said there would definitely be a Cannondale rider in the break.

It's 3.2km the first time we go up, but magically gets a bit longer for the second ascent (4km). It's a 9.1% average gradient.

The gap drops in accordance with the extra watts being put in from Cannondale-Drapac. The other GC teams are also mustering, trying to navigate their men into a good position for this climb.

Cannondale look to be pushing on now as we approach the first climb of the day.

The break is looking a bit ragged. They've been out there for about 90km already and it is HOT!

It's classified as category two for the first ascent, but it's a category one the second time they go up it - depite being the exact same hill. This is because the route planners factor in the position within the stage when classifying climbs. The longer they have ridden and the more mountains they've already climbed over, the higher a categorisation it receives.

This finishing climb is a real monster. It's not very long, but it is incredibly steep and quite narrow too. The riders will tackle it twice, the first of these ascents coming in about 25km time.

If I am not talking very much about the race, it's because there is not a whole lot of racing going on right now. The break has about three minutes advantage on the peloton, and it contains the following brave escapees:

Markel Irizar (Trek-Segafredo), Marc Soler (Movistar), Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Tobias Ludvigsson (FDJ), Anthony Turgis (Cofidis), Lluis Mas and Diego Rubio (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) and Ricardo Vilela (Manzana Postobon).

Anthony Turgis riding with his shoe in his mouth prompts me to wonder aloud, 'What is the biggest / heaviest / unwieldiest thing you've ever carried on a bicycle?' Tweets to @owentcharles please!

Contador: "The Cumbre del Sol is a wall."

Anybody need some new kicks?

While it's nice to see them making a point, one wonders if this is the best thing for the race as a continuing contest. You get the sense at La Vuelta that the only way the other GC teams can beat Sky is by all 'ganging up'. This from Cannondale is the exact opposite of that.