Hello and welcome to libve coverage of Stage 14 of La Vuelta - a mountainous 171km slog from Cistierna to Les Praeres which includes five categorised climbs including the gruelling Cat.1 summit finish. It's the second of three mountaintop showdowns that could well decide who wins this Vuelta and we have it live from start to finish on Eurosport TV and here online.

The road rises early on and it's not a categorised climb but it's proving rather testing. The peloton is all strung out and it's top-and-tailed by Team Sky: Michal Kwiatkowski has ridden clear, while Pavel Sivakov is pedalling squares and dropping like a stone off the back. The Russian Grand Tour debutant is nursing some wounds and bandages so must have taken a tumble - perhaps even yesterday.

Active start as numerous riders try to force a break, including Igor Anton of Dimension Data. It will be another fierce battle, no doubt, to make the break - because in the Vuelta, unlike the Tour, the breaks tend to stick.

They're off! It took a while to get going today - and they missed out the first kilometre or so because of a mechanical incident involving Peter Sagan, the world champion, but today's stage is now under way.

More on that story from Richard Moore: "I don’t know him, but it strikes me that Chema Rodriguez, the official who caused the crash on Thursday, was trying to do his job in impossible circumstances — the finish was too narrow, and he was trying to make it safe. Once again, though, the incident showed people’s willingness to blame and shame a culprit before the full circumstances were known (and I don’t think they are fully known yet), which I think contributed to his decision to resign and leave the race."

Regarding that incident involving Van Baarle, Chema Rodriguez, the experienced Spanish journalist and Vuelta official who provoked the crash, announced yesterday he was leaving the race. This was his 37th and final edition of the Vuelta, but decided to step down in wake of incident.

One non-starter today: Dylan Van Baarle of Team Sky is calling it a day. The Dutchman was involved in that horrible finish-line crash two days ago when he and stage winner Alexandre Geinez ploughed into a fleeing official in what was a huge hash-up by the race organisation. So, we're down to 168 riders: Van Baarle is only the eighth rider to withdraw so far. Yesterday, Portugal's Jose Goncalves (Katusha-Alpacin) did not complete the stage.

It's a sunny day in Cistierna with the temperature a clement 18 degrees Celsius. There was a little bit of a delay at the start as 'Big' Miguel Indurain was present and in deep discussion with Alejandro Valverde, who's so old he probably overlapped with him for a few Grand Tours. There will be a short neutral zone and then the race will get under way. Stay tuned...

Here's the official profile of today's testing stage. There's no rest for the wicked as a succession of tough climbs is followed by the race's first ever finish at Praeres de Nava – a narrow, twisting, steep climb very much in the goat-track tradition. The tortuous final slog is only 4km long but hits 17% at the half-way point ahead of a short ledge before the last rise to the line. Overall, an average gradient of 13.5% after such a draining 165km lead-in could well cause chaos. Oh, and the two other Cat.1 climbs that precede the finale also hit double figures. Shudder.

Overnight leader Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) looked a picture of pain as he crossed the finish line more than four minutes down on his fellow Spaniard Rodriguez, the surprise stage winner from the Basque wildcard Euskadi-Murias team. Herrada saw his advantage halved to 1min 42sec on Britain’s Simon Yates after the Mitchelton-Scott rider came off second-best in a thrilling duel with his GC rival Nairo Quintana (Movistar) on what many claim to be the steepest finish in pro cycling. The Colombian is eight seconds back on Yates on GC in third place.

Yesterday, Spanish debutant Oscar Rodriguez caused an upset on the cruel double-digit gradient of La Camperona, riding clear of Rafal Majka and Dylan Teuns to win Stage 13 of La Vuelta from the break as compatriot Jesus Herrada dug deep to retain the red jersey on the first of three consecutive mountain-top finishes.