Spectacular encore by Fabio Aru who, after attacking with Froome and breaking away from Contador, burned the Briton in the sprint on the high-altitude finish of Monte Castrove. Now given as the winner of the Vuelta in Asturias after the triumph in Monday's big stage, Contador in today's Galician fraction, even if he still retains the scepter of command, has given some space to the hopes of his direct rivals, in particular of Froome , who despite missing the stage victory and the 10” bonus awarded to the ever more convincing Aru, still scraped together 20 seconds against the red jersey. Contador appeared less brilliant than in recent days, failing to follow Froome when the white Kenyan, less than three kilometers from the finish, set off to hunt for Aru who had sprinted halfway up the climb. The Pistolero remained together with the other Spaniards, Valverde and Rodriguez, finishing fifth at the finish line, 13 seconds behind Aru and Froome.
With three stages to go, with tomorrow Saturday the last uphill finish at 1655 meters in Puerto de Ancares, 12 km of ascent with peaks of 18%, the Vuelta always sees Contador in the red jersey but Froome has approached behind him he is now second at 1'19”: on the side of the “Martian” of the 2013 Tour, in addition to the penultimate stage, there is also the final 10km mini-time trial in which he could scrape together another second on Contador. Valverde slipped to third place at 1'32” despite gaining a few seconds on Contador. Rodriguez stays fourth at 2'29” followed however at 46” by an Aru who never ceases to amaze and who, having started the season as Nibali's follower, is becoming more and more a candidate for the protagonist of the next big rounds. Gesink, Boonen and Cancellara retire in the stage to be recorded. Which makes the forecast for the final time trial increasingly open given that the Swiss, after the early departure of Tony Martin, winner of the test in La Borja, was the great favorite for the race against time in Santiago de Compostela where will conclude a Vuelta of great technical and competitive charm.
