Three more mountains and a 20 km descent into the city of Granada awaited the 142 riders left in the Vuelta peloton. While Valverde showed yesterday that he can apparently mark whatever attack Vinokourov et al can dish out it, that certainly wouldn't stop them from trying again and again over the next couple of stages.

About a third of the peloton went out early on the Cat 1 Alto de Albandon and included the two men competing for the King of the Mountains jersey, Discovery Channel's Egoi Martinez and Credit Agricole's Pietro Caucchioli. As a more select group went clear and it was Martinez first over the top and tying up the KOM competition, meanwhile all the favorites accelerated behind putting the fear of a long, hard day into the peloton, odd to see this kind of action this early in a stage by the race leaders… After a regrouping on the descent, another six riders went clear and included DC's Tom Danielson and his soon-to-be teammate Sergio Paulinho (Astana). Team Sports Manager Johan Bruyneel had said earlier Danielson now had the freedom to attack and he wanted him to finish the race strong. Danielson looked good in yesterday's stage, coming back to the front of the race several times on the final climb, and moving into the Top 10 overall. Danielson was also the best-placed rider on GC in the break at 8'05" to Valverde and so his Caisse d'Epargne team let them get about four minutes down the road before stabilizing the time gap. The group of six went over the Cat 3 Alto de Lanjarón with little difficulty, the fireworks sure to happen on the final ascent up the 10 km long Cat 1 Alto de Monachil before the plunge to the line in Granada. Credit Agricole's Fofonov and CSC's Bak were not working in the break as they were really up there waiting for their team leaders.

photo by Graham Watson

With 50 km left in the stage the approximate 50-rider peloton was lead by five men from Caisse d'Epargne, the gap at about 4'30" to the break. 20 km later and the final climb started to kick in, the gap down to around three minutes as Sastre marshaled his Team CSC forward and they upped the pace.

While the peloton essentially fell apart from the CSC effort it was Saunier Duval's tiny rider Piepoli coming around them only to see Astana's Kashechkin go off the front of the peloton on the attack. Piepoli and his team leader Marchante were off in pursuit of Kashechkin and then Marchante bridged across to the Astana rider.

On the front of the race Danielson then attacked to go for the stage win, and then behind him race leader Valverde showed true character by also going on the attack and only Vinokourov and Sastre could follow him. As the riders came towards the summit the situation was Danielson on point, Kashechkin and Marchante 1'15" back and then Valverde's small group just 10" in arrears - then everyone else spread down the mountain.

Not surprising at all, Vinokourov launched a big attack against Valverde and Sastre and they initially had no answer as the Kazach rode away, and then Sastre looked in difficulty and Valverde attacked him as well! Danielson was over the "first" summit with a little more than a minute gap, then after a slight descent he had another km of climbing before the final descent. Vinokourov had formed a small chase group and when they came over the summit Danielson had a 35" lead to Vino's group as Valverde drilled it solo to regain this small group, and as he did Vinokourov attacked again on the descent!

With 15 km left in the race it was a finale of risk taking as Danielson worked on point to get the stage win, Vino was on the attack, and Valverde was doing his best to regain him with Marchante and Kashechkin in tow and then Sastre not far behind. With 9 km left in the stage Danielson had just 17" lead to the hard-charging Vinokourov. With 5 km left in the stage Vino caught Danielson and the duo had almost a minute lead on Valverde's small group, the Astana rider now with a chance to make up some real time on Valverde.

Vino and Danielson were working well together with just 2 km left in the stage and a 1'17" lead - the Astana rider only 1'42" away on GC to Valverde. As the two riders came to the line it was certain that Vino was not going to go for the stage win, Danielson had clearly earned it through his solid attacking and the 28-year old from Durango came across the finish line with his arms held high in celebration!