Michael Storer took his second stage win of the Vuelta a España 2021 from the break but the big action came from the leader’s jersey Primož Roglič as he attacked clear of the peloton on the final climb.
Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) kicked clear with around 13km to go to put time into the other favourites but, he crashed on the descent as well as not keeping his red jersey as Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) took it by a slim margin thanks to being in the break.
Both Ineos Grenadiers leaders, Egan Bernal and Adam Yates lost time to the other big favourites after losing touch on the climb.
Storer (DSM) went solo to the line adding to his amazing stage win on stage seven and continuing a great performance by his team at the Vuelta.
How it happned
The day started in the town of Roquetas de Mar with the stage taking on a challenging 189km route to Rincon de la Victoria, with the sharp four kilometre climb of the Puerto de Almacher in the last part of the day before they descended to the line.
It took a very long time for the break to get away with 31 riders eventually getting away, with the likes of Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Alex Aranburu (Astana-Premier Tech), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Floris De Tier (Alpecin-Fenix), Magnus Cort (EF Education-Nippo), Michael Storer (DSM), Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) among others.
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(Image credit: Vuelta a España)
The peloton, led by the team of the race leader, Jumbo-Visma, allowed the break a huge gap of over 13 minutes at its peak with around 30km to go.
It was around that point that Trentin, Aranburu, De Tier and Herrada kicked on clear but the chasers were not keen to allow those riders away. De Tier then decided to push on over the top on the final climb but he was caught by a new counter attack by Lilian Calmejane (Ag2r-Citroën) and Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) with the latter going further and managing to pull out his gap himself.
Former red jersey wearer, Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) also tried a move to get across but that move failed. Stage winner at this year’s race, Storer showed his amazing climbing legs as Clément Champoussin (Ag2r-Citroën) tried to cling onto the Australian with 19km to go.
Back in the peloton, Movistar and Ineos had come up to try and break the group apart and put Roglič.
Storer was putting in a good advantage on the rest of the break with 30 seconds over a new seven-man group with just over a kilometre to go on the climb and 17km to go until the finish.
Roglič attacked with 14km to go and nobody was able to follow the race leader as he ate into the advantage on the breakaway and the potential of Odd Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) going into the red jersey.
Miguel Ángel López worked for his Movistar team-mate of Enric Mas with Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) and Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) as Egan Bernal and Adam Yates (both Ineos Grenadiers) both started slipping down through the groups.
Roglič then crashed on the descent. He quickly got to his feet, put his chain back on and was rejoined by the chasing group that did not include Bernal and Yates. Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) joined on the downhill.
Bernal and Yates lost almost a minute to the group with Roglič in it as the Slovenian along with the Movistar duo of Mas and Lopez plus Haig from Bahrain Victorious.
Eiking now leads the overall standings by 58 seconds over French climber, Martin before the original top riders start with Roglič now at 2-17 with Mas and Lopez being at the same gaps as before.
Bernal and Yates have slipped to seventh and ninth with their gaps sitting at 4-46 and 5-01 behind the new Norwegian leader. Kuss was the only rider to hold his position in eighth place but now at a gap of 4-57.
The 11th stage is yet another challenging stage between Antequera and Valdepeñas de Jaén with another tough day of climbing and a sharp uphill finish on the 133,6 km route with the final kick hitting around 20 per cent in gradient.
Vuelta a España stage 10, Roquetas de Mar to Rincon de la Victoria (185km)
Michael Storer (Aus) Team DSM, in 4-09-21
Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 22s
Clément Champoussin (Fra) Ag2r-Citroën Team
Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers
Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, all at same time
Jhonatan Narváez (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, at 51s
Nick Schultz (Aus) Team BikeExchange
Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) Ag2r-Citroën
Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Ag2r-Citroën
Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo, all at same time
General classification after stage 10
Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, in 38-37-46
Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis, at 58s
Primož Roglič (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma, at 2-17
Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, 2-45
Miguel Ángel López (Col) Movistar Team, at 3-38
Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious, at 3-59
Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, at 4-46
Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma, at 4-57
Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 5-01
Felix Großshartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 5-42
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