Erviti continues winning run

Erviti: Breakaway success

Related links

News

• Cav wraps up green jersey
• Nibali matches Mosquera
• Gilbert battles to victory
• Cav bags another stage win
• All change at the Vuelta
• Nieve bags solo win at Vuelta
• Breakthrough win for Barredo
• Antón crashes out of Vuelta
• Cav continues winning run
• Cavendish romps to victory

Also see

• Full Standings
• Team Sky site
• iPhone app
• Team Sky Facebook
• Sky Ride

Caisse d'Epargne were celebrating their second successive stage win at the Vuelta a España after Imanol Erviti secured a fine breakaway win in Vilanova i la Geltrú.

The 26-year-old made his solo bid for glory on the descent of the category one-rated Rat Penat, which topped out 30km from the line, and pressed on to take the victory by 37 seconds ahead of Romain Zingle (Cofidis) and Greg Van Avermaet (Omega Pharma-Lotto).

And Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez also enjoyed a productive day in the saddle as he opened up a two-second advantage over Igor Antón (Euskaltel) at the top of the overall standings by gaining a time bonus in one of the stage's two intermediate sprints.

The day had begun with the shock news that Saxo Bank duo Andy Schleck and Stuart O'Grady had been kicked off the race by their own team manager Bjarne Riis for drinking alcohol on Monday evening, but once the rest of the peloton hit the road, 11 riders including Erviti, Zingle and Van Avermaet, eventually worked themselves free.

Despite Euskaltel and Katusha's best efforts, that group were still over two minutes ahead of their pursuers by the time they hit the sole climb of the day, and on the steep ascent which followed Javier Moreno (Andalucía) and Christophe Le Mevel (FDJ) opened up their own advantage, with Le Mevel scooping maximum points at the summit.

That original lead group came back together though, as they hurtled back down towards the destination town, and it was then that Erviti made his decisive move.

As the remnants of that elite bunch dallied behind, the Spaniard battled on bravely over the flat final kilometres to secure a repeat of his 2008 success, where he triumphed in Las Rozas.

After the stage Erviti told reporters: "That win felt great today. The breakaway slowed down a lot towards the end and I felt I picked a good time to go and just went for it.

"For quite a while I thought it wasn't going to happen for me, so I'm delighted with the way things worked out."