Cannondale's Daniele Ratto won the Vuelta a España fourteenth stage with an unexpected victory
On a cold and wet day as the race headed towards Andorra on a 155.7km stage from Baga to Andorra. Collada de La Gallina.
Five riders in Steve Chainel (AG2R-La Mondiale), Graeme Brown and Luis Leon Sanchez (Belkin), Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Daniele Ratto (Cannondale), escaped after three kilometres.
Their maximum advantage was 12.35 when Gilbert won the hot spot sprint at Canillo after 70(kms, where the front group was reduced to three men as Chainel and Brown got dropped in the Port d’Envalira. The Katusha team rode behind Ratto who remained solo at the head of the race.
A total of fourteen riders pulled out, mainly Ivan Basso but also Wouter Poels and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM), Nick Nuyens (Garmin-Sharp) Jürgen Van de Walle, Jelle Vanendert and Greg Henderson (Lotto-Belisol), Roman Kreuziger (Saxo-Tinkoff), Chainel and Sanchez.
Eight riders moved away from the peloton in the col d’Ordino: Jose Herrada (Movistar), Amets Txurruka and David Arroyo (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Igor Anton, Egoï Martinez and Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel), Alex Howes (Garmin-Sharp) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM). Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) joined them but they got caught in the downhill while Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) lost contact with the group of the favourites.
Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) also got dropped with 6km to go. Horner attacked 4km from the finish. Only Nibali managed to stay with him. The race leader even gained some time and time bonus on all his rivals as he finished second behind Cannondale's Daniele Ratto, who won in a time of 4.24.00
Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) crossed the line in fourth place 18 seconds after Nibali. Valverde limited the loss at 50 seconds but former runner up Roche conceded 3.29 to drop him to sixth in the General Classification.
Ratto said about his win to La Vuelta.com: "I didn’t believe much in my chances. When I remained alone in the lead, there were two climbs left. I’ve made a difference on the wet downhills.
"Riding a motorbike has made me used to putting my foot out as I did today to avoid crashing. At the bottom of the last one, I knew that I had eight minutes lead. At that point, it was clear that except if I got a serious hungerflat, I could win the stage.
"I’ve been scared as I felt I was cramping a bit but I’ve managed to deal with that. It’s a special moment for me to succeed in the mountains."
Vincenzo Nibali leads the race by fifty seconds from Chris Horner of Radio Shack