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.

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.

Cannondale continue to sit on the front of the peloton. This is really good news for Team Sky, as it saves them having to do the work, meaning Froome will have more team mates around him when they tackle the day's final climb.

Abandon! FDJ have lost a rider, Johan Le Bon.

It has been a good Vuelta for the breakaways, with the last four stage wins coming from the escape.

The break are looking motivated here today. You probably wouldn't put your mortgage on them winning this stage, but if they continue to cooperate like this, you never know!

Brief piece of foot-based excitement out of the way, the break presses on. The gap is fluctuating between 2'30" and 3'00".

The Cofidis rider was adjusting his sock, it seemed, while pedalling along in the breakaway at about 45kp/h.

Honestly, you pop away from the desk for two seconds and you come back to find the riders literally chewing their footwear.

Anthony Turgis has got his shoe in his mouth!

Ricardo Vilela is the man in the break today for Manzana Postobon. He's the other non-Colombian on the squad, alongside Dutchman, Jetse Bol. Bol, you will remember, went rocketing into the top ten of GC two days ago after getting into a break that finished eight minutes ahead of the peloton.

Ian Stannard also rolling over to the side of the road for a quick wizz. The TV director lingered on that shot a little bit too long for my liking...

Costa Blanca is winning a lot of admirers today too. It is, of course, a hotspot for training camps during the winter. We'll pass through Calpe soon, which hosted Astana and Team Katusha this winter.

One of Team Sky just catching back onto the peloton, looks like it was a comfort break rather than anything too serious, though. Mikel Nieve, it was.

Cannondale-Drapac. Unbowed, unbent, unbroken. Or is that the motto of House Martell in Game of Thrones?

Some bollards wrapped in duct tape serving as a makeshift race barrier in the middle of the road there. Not sure that's the safest method for keeping the fans away from the racers...

Talk about putting yourself in the shop window, Cannondale are all lined up on the front of the peloton now and keeping the break pegged.

Lotto-Soudal have had a 'mixed' race so far. A stage win for Tomasz Marczynski, but two crashes for Jelle Wallays, a misfiring Thomas De Gendt and now the loss of Debuscherre, their man for the sprints.

Yup, that's him out. Jens Debuscherre of Lotto-Soudal abandons La Vuelta.

Debuscherre in a lot of discomfort. He remounted the bike then climbed off again. That may be the end of his participation in the race.

Crash! Jens Debuscherre is down and he looks sore.