A hilly stage today - focus is on Kangert not losing time so he can still be in with a shout tomorrow
Pavel Brutt seemed the most interested in the mountain points today, he fended off competition in the break from Tosatto, Brambilla, Chavez and Silin to take over the mountains jersey
David Zabriskie was the first man to launch an attack from the peloton as we approached the top of the penultimate 2nd category climb, the Puerto de Arrebatacapas
He was followed by Deignan, Fedrigo, and most surprisingly of all - Scarponi!
The peloton was having none of that but Zabriskie remained 30s up the road, 1’41 behind the break
Lots of attacks soon formed and they merged with the break to create an 11-man group up the road. Riders like Vinokourov, Slagter and Amador weren't ones to underestimate
Lampre brought them back on their own but the pack was starting to thin out quite a bit and Belohvosciks had been dropped. Slagter and Anacona were now on the offensive as Scarponi was looking dangerous behind near the front of the pack
As we started the descent to the finish, Pablo Lastras went on the attack and crested the peak first. However, it wasn't looking good for the Nokia's, all except Mandri and Kangert had now been dropped and Kangert was looking very badly out of position due to his shocking downhill abilities
Lastras had accelerated and, having built up a gap of 30 seconds with just 7 downhill kms to go, was looking a good bet for the stage win. The chasing group was down to just 40 riders now, unfortunately neither Kangert nor Mandri had made it into there, though.
Lastras does indeed take the win as the chasers just mistimed their acceleration and were too late. Paolo Tiralongo won the sprint for 2nd
As Kangert and Mandri came in over two minutes down, our misery was compounded by Raivis Belohvosciks taking the wrong line through a corner and crashing quite heavily. He's gone back for some recuperation in Latvia, as tomorrow's stage is unlikely to do him any good
1
Pablo Lastras
Movistar Team
4h05'19
2
Paolo Tiralongo
Astana Pro Team
+ 12
3
Sergio Pardilla
Movistar Team
s.t.
4
Andrey Amador
Movistar Team
s.t.
5
Julien Simon
Saur - Sojasun
s.t.
6
Sandy Casar
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
7
Wilco Kelderman
Rabobank Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Peter Stetina
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
9
Michele Scarponi
Lampre - ISD
s.t.
10
Simon Spilak
Katusha Team
s.t.
1
Pablo Lastras
Movistar Team
7h47'36
2
Julien Simon
Saur - Sojasun
+ 12
3
Paolo Tiralongo
Astana Pro Team
+ 20
4
Elia Favilli
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
+ 24
5
Sergio Pardilla
Movistar Team
s.t.
6
Carlos Barredo
Rabobank Cycling Team
+ 32
7
Andrey Amador
Movistar Team
s.t.
8
Francesco Failli
Farnese Vini - Selle Italia
s.t.
9
Simon Spilak
Katusha Team
s.t.
10
Sandy Casar
FDJ - BigMat
s.t.
Not a good day for us, so not much reflection on it; only that we hope Raivis recovers well enough to be able to race in his next race which is fairly soon I think. The profile of stage 3 will favour Tanel much more than today's, so he might go hunting for a stage win, as GC hopes are all over.
Starting (and finishing) in Segovia, the town that hosts the start of the Bola del Mundo stage in this year's Vuelta, we have a difficult day on our hands today. Kangert should be looking to do something, although the long descent down to the finish won't be to his liking
We join the action as the Jarlinson Pantano leads the break over the Puerto de Navafria, the first climb of the day. Jussi Veikkanen was in the group but somehow slipped off the back and has lost 50 seconds to them!?
On the descent just after the next climb, the Puerto de la Morcuera, Veikkanen and van Leijen, who had bridged the gap from the peloton, had joined the break, here Veikkanen just missed an attack for the mountain points and is in 4th position on the road
At the foot of the Puerto de Navacerrada a move was initiated by Sandy Casar with Mikel Landa and Alberto Losada following him. You can just see the break in the top left
With several other attacks following the pace in both the break and the main group soon became unbearably high
As the aggressive trio joined the break, Veikkanen was slipping backwards towards the pack
Pantano crests the summit first, in a heated duel with Alfredo Balloni
After a rather uneventful descent, all of the original breakaway riders had been reeled in but Casar, Landa, and Losada still remained out there with a large gap. Kangert decided this was the moment to attack with just under 5km to go as the gap seemed big enough to get them the stage win
In the end it was Losada who claimed a great stage victory and with it the overall GC as well!
Again, a bit disappointing. Kangert, Mandri and, surprisingly, Navardauskas managed to stay within the main bunch but our highest placed finisher was Tanel in 20th place. Great win for Losada though, with a clever attack with his three companions.
The latest prrogress report on Raivis seems to be good news - he's recovering well
Vuelta a Castilla y Leon 
Pavel Brutt seemed the most interested in the mountain points today, he fended off competition in the break from 
Tosatto, 
Chavez and 
David Zabriskie was the first man to launch an attack from the peloton as we approached the top of the penultimate 2nd category climb, the Puerto de Arrebatacapas
Deignan, 
Fedrigo, and most surprisingly of all - 
Vinokourov, 
Slagter and 
Amador weren't ones to underestimate
Belohvosciks had been dropped. Slagter and 
Mandri and 
Jussi Veikkanen was in the group but somehow slipped off the back and has lost 50 seconds to them!?
