Call it the hot potato leader’s jersey.

Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) became the seventh rider in nine days of racing to hold the golden jersey at the 63rd Vuelta a España.

Astana might have had the jersey when it started Monday’s 200.8km ninth stage across the southern flanks of the Pyrénées, but it sure didn’t want to have it when the race arrived in Sabiñánigo some five hours later.

With still more than half the 63rd Vuelta to come, Astana balked at carrying around the extra weight of the leader’s jersey in a week of transition stages before the decisive final week with the Angliru and the climbing time trial still on tap.

Martinez takes over the lead... but for how long?

Photo: Graham Watson

Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel saddled up next to Basque rider Martínez in sunny Vielha this morning and told him to put his attacking shoes on.

“Before the stage today, I whispered to Egoi that it might be a good day to get into a breakaway,” Bruyneel said with a smile. “Egoi is a real fighter and he deserves the jersey. We’re happy with the result today.”

Levi Leipheimer’s second run in the Vuelta’s golden jersey this year lasted as long as his first — one day — as Martínez took his ex-boss’s advice and snuck into the day’s winning 12-man breakaway.

Promising Belgian sprinter Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) out-kicked experienced rivals Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) to claim a huge win while Martínez rolled across the line in 10th.

Leipheimer and Astana

Photo: Graham Watson

That was just enough for Euskaltel-Euskadi to claim its first leader’s jersey in a three-week tour with Martínez moving 11 seconds ahead of Leipheimer.

Martínez — who rode for two seasons under Bruyneel’s tutelage at Discovery Channel in 2006-07 — started the day 16th at 6:41 back.

Despite efforts by CSC-Saxo Bank and Caisse d’Epargne to ramp up the chase late — in order to keep the responsibility of the leader’s jersey squarely on Astana — the peloton stopped the clock at 6:42 back.

Add 10 seconds in bonuses that Martínez wisely picked up along the four-climb route and the 30-year-old Basque rider happily slipped into the leader’s jersey.

“I’ve had a few sweet moments in my career marked by a lot more bittersweet moments,” said Martínez, who was second in the stage to Prato Nevoso in the 2008 Tour de France. “This helps take away the edge of missing out on a Tour stage this year. It’s every rider’s dream to win a Tour stage and I was close this year, but now I’m in the leader’s jersey at the Vuelta. It’s like a dream come true for a rider of my capabilities.”

Break with wings

There were scores of attacks in the opening two climbs of the stage, with several big guns trying in vain to break the deadlock imposed by Astana.

After several attempts, a break finally formed.

Photo: Graham Watson

Several riders attacked at the gun as the course climbed a second category climb that ended through a 5km tunnel punching through the wall of the Pyrénées.

Mikhail Ignatiev (Tinkoff) was first through the hole with four others trailing, but Astana shut it down.

David Moncoutie (Cofidis), winner of Sunday’s stage to Pla de Beret, attacked over the Cat. 2 Coll de l’Espina at 47km, with Philippe Gilbert (FDJeux), Damiano Cunego (Lampre) and Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi) in tow.

Moncoutie would eventually pick up enough points to wrest away the best climber’s jersey from Alessandro Ballan (Lampre).

Martinez was the biggest GC threat in the break.

Photo: Graham Watson

Riders kept attacking, but Astana kept chasing them down. It seemed the team was intent on keeping the jersey, but maybe they were just waiting for the right combination of riders to get away.

Finally, Martínez bridged out (with Van Avermaet in tow) at about 60km and the day’s break was set.

Joining the late arrivals were Cunego, Moncoutie, Alan Pérez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who would later prove pivotal for Martínez’s chances to snag the jersey, Andrea Tonti (Quick Step), Xavier Zandio (Caisse d’Epargne), Patrice Halgand and Christophe Kern (Credit Agricole), Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r), Flecha and Rebellin.

Chasing duties fell to Astana and the team looked pretty relaxed.

Photo: Graham Watson

When the gap grew to 6:12 at 114km, it was obvious that Astana was letting the jersey ride away.

“We are aware there’s a hard week ahead of us and to work every day defending the jersey until the stage to Angliru would have been really too much for the team,” Bruyneel said. “We had our calculators out. We didn’t want the break to get eight or nine minutes off the front, because then we would have had to work even harder today. Martínez was the right rider and Euskaltel is the right team. Now they carry the responsibility of the race.”

As the best-placed rider in the break, Martínez wasn’t leaving anything to chance and scooped up a second-place and a first in the day’s two intermediate sprints to earn 10 seconds in bonuses.

He knew it was going to be close.

Contador and Leipheimer look down the road.

Photo: Graham Watson

Pérez buried himself to help drive home the breakaway. In their wake, CSC and Caisse d’Epargne finally started to ramp up the speed in order to keep Astana in the golden jersey.

Martínez said he’ll enjoy his ride in gold but will stay committed to helping team GC leader Igor Antón, currently seventh overall at 2:23 back.

“We knew that the jersey might be there for the taking so we decided to play our card,” said Euskaltel sport director Jon Odriozola. “It’s a great moment for the team, but we’re not going to lose our heads over this. We’ll take our responsibility in the race.”

Just what Bruyneel was hoping for.

Belgium’s new sprinter

With the gap hovering around 6:30, the breakaway riders started to attack each other on a final, 24km loop around Sabiñánigo.

Flecha made the most serious attack, opening up a promising gap with 4km to go, but there was enough cooperation and collective interests among the break to chase him down.

Van Avermaet — called by some as the inheritor to Tom Boonen’s sprinter throne among the Belgian set — took the biggest win of his young career by out-kicking Rebellin by a bike length.

“I knew it would be difficult in the break with riders such as Rebellin and Cunego, but I also knew I was the fastest in the group if I could make it to the finish,” said Van Avermaet. “I’m pure Belgian and I really hate the climbs. I’ve been getting into the grupettos the past few days to save my legs for an opportunity like this.”

Van Avermaet once played goalie in soccer before dedicating himself to cycling. At the ripe age of 23 is already making an impression since turning pro in 2007 with Silence-Lotto.

He won a stage at the Tour of Qatar in his first pro race in 2007 and then won a stage at this year’s Tour of Belgium before making his grand tour debut at the Vuelta.

“I’m a sprinter, but I still have a lot to learn to win in a mass sprint in a race like the Vuelta. I knew my best chance for a stage victory here was in an escape,” he said. “This is by far is the most important victory of my career.”

Tuesday’s stage

The 63rd Vuelta continues Tuesday with the 151.3km stage from Sabiñánigo to Zaragoza in a stage well suited for any surviving sprinters.

The route opens with a wide-open second category climb at 34km, but it’s most flat from there as the route pushes south toward the windy flats around Zaragoza. A sweeping left-hander complicates a straight-ahead finish with 400 meters to go.