Rodriquez Wins La Vuelta Stage 14

Last updated : 01 September 2012 By Kev Monks

Joaquin Rodriquez won the fourteenth stage of the Vuelta A Espana this afternoon.

A 149.2m stage from Vuelta from Palas de Rei to Puerto de Ancares saw an initial break thwarted and Laurent Didier (RadioShack-Nissan), Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan), Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Simon Clarke (GreenEdge), Serge Pauwels (QuickStep), Dario Cataldo (QuickStep), Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Cannondale), Alberto Losada Alguacil (Katusha), Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel) Rudy Molard (Cofidis), David Moncoutie (Cofidis), Alessandro Ballan (BMC), Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Andalucia), Blel Kadri (AG2R), Ben Gastauer (AG2R) and Javier Moreno Bazan (Movistar) get themselves into a break which was 2.03 clear by the halfway stage.

With fifteen kilometres to go, only six riders were still away chasing Albert Losada, who was swept up ten kilometres later by Valverde, Moreno, race leader Joaquin Rodriguez and Alberto Contador.

Chris Froome knowing that he had to do something attacked and chased down Contador.

However, it was Joaquin Rodriquez who caught up with Contador and passed him to win the stage ahead of Contador, Valverde, Moreno and Froome.

Rodriquez now leads the race by 22 seconds from Contador and 1.41 from Froome.