Vuelta a España: Stage 11

The first mountain top stage and we get our first real shakeup at the top.  Rabobank worked very hard to pull in the breakaway, everyone assumed to set things up for Denis Menchov, but as soon as the road when up he went backwards.  A lot of work for nothing for Rabobank, but it setup a battle between the guys sitting one, two, three.  At first Joaquin Rodriguez and Vincenzo Nibali looked to be the strong men.  But then Igor Anton found himself and blasted past everyone to take the win, the leaders jersey, and put some time gaps on his main competition.   

Tejay Van Garderen showed a bit of weakness today, but Tom Danielson had a pretty solid ride so he's now the top American.  Frank Schleck also looked pretty strong today, so watch out for him when the road heads uphill again.

Tomorrow looks to be a day for the sprinters.

General classification after stage 11

1	Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi	47:37:15
2	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo	0:00:45
3	Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervélo Test Team	0:01:04
4	Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha	0:01:17
5	Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia	0:01:29
6	Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Caisse d’Epargne	0:01:57
7	Ruben Plaza (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne	0:02:07
8	Rigoberto Uran (Col) Caisse d’Epargne	0:02:13
9	Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2R-La Mondiale	0:02:30
10	Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank

12

Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin-Transitions

0:02:53