Vuelta 2015 stage 11: Stage-win Mikel Landa, red jersey Fabio Aru

Andorra's Queen Stage takes the riders in 138 kilometres to Cortals d'Encamps. On the first climb of six Mikel Landa attacks and he soloes to victory on the closing climb, while his team-mate Fabio Aru grabs the red jersey after a strong attack on the last climb. Rodríguez is second in the overall, while former leader Dumoulin is now third. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 11th stage Vuelta

1. Mikel Landa (spa)
2. Fabio Aru (ita) + 1.21
3. Ian Boswell (usa) + 1.39
4. Daniel Moreno (spa) + 1.55
5. Joaquim Rodriguez (spa) + 1.58
6. Rafal Majka (pol) + 2.07
7. Mikel Nieve (spa) s.t.
8. Esteban Chaves (col) + 2.58
9. Tom Dumoulin (nld) s.t.
10. Diego Rosa (ita) + 3.02

12. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 3.04
14. Nairo Quintana (col) + 4.19
32. Chris Froome (gbr) + 8.41

GC after stage 11
1. Fabio Aru (ita)
2. Joaquim Rodriguez (spa) + 0.27
3. Tom Dumoulin (nld) + 0.30
4. Rafal Majka (pol) + 1.28
5. Esteban Chaves (col) + 1.29
6. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 1.52
7. Mikel Nieve (spa) + 1.58
8. Nairo Quintana (cOl) + 3.07
10. Louis Meintjes (rsa) + 4.15

15. Chris Froome (gbr) + 7.30

Race report
The race starts with a bang when Chris Froome hits the deck and he is forced to chase on the first climb of the day, Collada de Baixalis.

After a number of failed attacks Romain Sicard and Darwin Atapuma are together upfront. They are accompanied by Jérôme Coppel, Nelson Oliveira and KOM-leader Omar Fraile. When cresting the leders enjoyin a tiny margin over a group with all GC-contenders with the exception of Froome. The Brit is 0’50” down on his rivals.

While climbing Coll d’Ordino the front group is joined by Matteo Montaguti, Javier Moreno, Pawel Poljanski, Alberto Losada, Mikel Landa, Damien Howson, Romain Hardy, Imanol Erviti, Carlos Verona, Rubén Plaza, Ian Boswell, George Bennett, José Gonçalves en Mikael Cherel. On the lower flanks Froome is back in the pack.

When cresting the leaders enjoy a 2 minutes advantage and in the drop Erviti goes solo. He races to a 1 minute gain over his former companions and 4 minutes over the bunch when hitting the Coll de la Rabassa. It stays like that on the climb and Erviti is the first to crest, but he is caught in the drop.

Next is the especial-climb Collada de la Gallina. Sicard, Boswell, Coppel and Poljanski leave the front group. Atapuma and Landa join them and with the showers starting to wash over the riders, Chris Froome and Nicolas Roche are dropped from the group with leader Dumoulin.

Fraile joins the leaders and takes most KOM-point at the top. The group Dumoulin is at 3 minutes, Froome is 6 minutes down. In the drop Valverde en Rodríguez go on the attack. They receive back-up from Moreno, Losado and Erviti. That’s three Katusha-riders and three Movistars. Once in the valley they enjoy a 0’50” lead over Dumoulin. Aru, Quintana and Chaves were dropped also, but they joinn Valverde/Purito before the next climb.

At Alto de la Comella (2nd category) Fraile is dropped, but he will be a happy man as he leads the KOM-classification after today with 49 points. Dumoulin rejoins Valverde/Purito/Quintana/Aru et al in the company of Pozzovivo and Meintjes.

Landa goes solo at the closing climb, while his team-mate attacks after 1 km of climbing with Rodríguez and Moreno on his wheel, while Dumoulin leads the chase, followed by Chaves and Valverde. Quintana is dropped after an in vain attack to bridge the gap to Aru.

With 5.3 km’s left Aru leaves Rodríguez and Moreno alone and he sets sail for the red jersey. He doesn’t catch Landa, who wins the race, but he definitely is the man in red.

Strong performance by Tom Duoulin, now third in the overall, 3 seconds down on Purito.