Today's stage was a 46km time trial in Peñafiel. Fabian Cancellera (pictured below) was odds on favourite for this one and he set the early pace after Astana's Valentin Iglinsky was the first man off the ramp. However, Denis Menchov who has pretty quiet on this tour beat the time of the Swiss rider by 25 seconds in a time of 52 mins, 55 seconds.
Britain's David Millar (pictured below) is also known for his time trials, said this morning to cyclingnews.com: "For me it's a test before the world championship. I've worked hard these past few days." and today he also worked hard coming in 1 min, 15 seconds down on Menchov.
The race leaders were now on the road and it was Vincenzo Nibali who had become the leader on the road whilst Nicholas Roche was clawing time back from Frank Schleck.
2008 Tour De France winner Carlos Sastre came in but HTC Colombia's Peter Velits came out of nowhere with a time of 52:43 to knock Menchov off the top of the leader-board.
"I am so happy," said Velits to Eurosport after the face.. "I am not thinking about General Classification, I am just thinking about my win."
"This is is my first victory in a time trial, too," said Velits to the HTC Colombia press office "and to be able to do that in the Vuelta is something almost unbelievable. It's a big but very nice surprise for both me and the team. I knew the key would be going all out in the return section, where there was a strong tailwind and I was able to make most of the difference there. Seeing [rival] Tom Danielson ahead of me on the road but slowly closing the gap on him really boosted my morale, too, and I could keep up a high pace."
"It's really nice to be able to reach a special number like 100 victories in 2010 with such an important win," added HTC-Columbia team manager Rolf Aldag. "A victory in the time trial of the Vuelta is pretty unique. Peter could hold onto third, because the chance of being on the podium of the Vuelta could motivate him to find that little bit extra in the last mountain stage of the race [on Saturday]. Whatever happens, though, he's pulled off an exceptional result, and we're very proud of him."
Menchov was second with Cacenlla third and David Millar tenth.
Vincenza Nibali now leads the race.
Stage 18 tomorrow is from Valladolid to Salamanca.