2014 Vuelta a España Stage 11: Quintana quits, Contador holds lead as Aru dances to victory

Astana’s Fabio Aru won Wednesday’s eleventh stage of the Vuelta a España with an attack out of a select group 1 km from the summit of the finishing climb to San Miguel de Aralar. Aru’s win came after a dramatic day of racing that saw favourite Nairo Quintana of Movistar fall victim to another crash, this time forcing him out of the race.

The peloton set out from Pamplona with 153.4 km of road in front of them, including two categorized climbs, first the Puerto de Lizarraga then the Alto de San Miguel de Aralar, where the finish was set. Quintana’s crash came 20 km in with a massive pileup that left the Colombian with an injured shoulder and unable to continue.

A group went clear around the halfway point, with Lampre-Merida’s Elia Favilli, FDJ.fr’s Johan Le Bon, Pim Ligthart of Lotto-Belisol, Vasil Kiryienka of Sky Pro Cycling and Caja Rural’s Pello Bilbao included in the move. The group worked well for a while, then Kiryienka went on the offensive, attacking solo as his breakmates faltered. The Belarusian put on a strong show of power, holding out over the first mountain to arrive solo at the base of the final climb with nearly a minute’s advantage. That lead was demolished in a hurry as Katusha, then Sky, came to the fore. The bunch went to pieces as the road turned up, leaving only the favourites.

With 6 km to go, Giant-Shimano’s Warren Barguil opened with an attack, quickly followed by Belkin’s Robert Gesink. Gesink dropped Barguil immediately and soon had a 30-second advantage on the chasers. Dan Martin of Garmin-Sharp tried several times behind, putting Sky’s Chris Froome and Lampre-Merida’s Winner Anacona into trouble. Gesink held out stubbornly then finally succumbed to the chasers a kilometre and a half from the top. Froome accelerated, and then Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador, the race leader, went, but neither could shake the others. A moment’s lull, then Aru took off, dancing away to the finish.

“I’m extremely happy to win here,” Aru said after the race. “I found myself really well after the Giro. This victory is dedicated to my team, to my family, to all the people to have helped me reach this level. I prepared for this Vuelta very well. It’s been a very competitive stage from the start. When I manage to ride away with 2 km to go, I couldn’t believe it. I was going away from those great champions. It’s important for me to win here, but I’m still in a learning process.”

Contador lead out the sprint for the chasers, before Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde and Katusha’s Joaquin Rodriguez kicked around  to take second and third at the finish.

Contador held on to the leader’s jersey, with 20 seconds advantage over Valverde. Rigoberto Uran sits in third on the GC, 1:08 back.

Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin-Sharp came in 13 minutes down for 115th place on the stage. Guillaume Boivin of Cannnondale, the other Canadian in the race, was 176th, 18:27 behind the winner.