Imanol Evriti wins stage 10 of Tour of Spain as overall leadership changes hands

Imanol Evriti won the tenth stage of the Tour of Spain which ran for 175 kilometers from Tarragona to Vilanova i la Geltru on the east coast of Spain this Tuesday.

The stage saw the overall leadership change hands with Joaquin Rodriguez replacing Igor Anton in the leader's red jersey thanks to a two seconds modification from an intermediate sprint in which he finished second.

The two seconds time modification takes him ahead of Anton by just two seconds.

The day began with the news that Andy Schleck, who finished second in this year's Tour de France had been sent home by his Saxon Bank team manager Barney Iris for breaking team rules and going out for an after dinner drink.

Schleck and his brother Frank have already announced that next season they will be forming their own Luxembourg based cycling team.

The stage was dominated by a steep climb the "Rat Penat " which was situated around 30 kilometers from the finish line.

Although only five kilometers long, the Rat Penat has ramps of 18 percent gradient and the climb was followed by a hair-raising descent on narrow slightly rutted roads.

It was on the descent that Evriti, who rides for the Caisse D'Epargne team, made his attack, opening up a gap that stretched to 38 seconds over second placed Romain Zingel. Although not a wide margin, the narrow roads made it impossible for the chasing riders to organize an effective pursuit.

The main peloton finished 1.38 behind Evriti.

Source: Xinhua