No gifts. Alberto Contador might be Spain’s newest prince, but he’s not ready to play the role of kingmaker yet at the Vuelta a España.

Contador wasn’t about to give away a golden opportunity to win his second stage in a row and tighten his grip on the Vuelta’s golden leader’s jersey despite Ezequiel Mosquera’s hope for mercy in Sunday’s 14th stage.

The 32-year-old Xacobeo-Galicia rider poured everything into a daring attack with 5km to go in the Vuelta’s final hard mountain summit to drop everyone except Contador and Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer.

Mosquera’s hopes for a give-away victory were short-circuited when Contador attacked just ahead of the 1km red kite on the Fuentes de Invierno summit.

La Vuelta a España - Stage 14

“I was hoping that Contador and Leipheimer might have had a little bit of compassion and let me win the stage,” said Mosquera, who finished third. “When I attacked the first time, I decided to give it all, for good or bad. It went pretty well and I had the legs to get to the top, but they weren’t going to give away anything.”

With a 20-second time bonus waiting at the finish line and his most dangerous GC rivals floundering in his wake, Contador couldn’t resist.

Contador punched the accelerator with just over 1km to go to pick up an easy win.

“From the car, they told me that I cannot let these opportunities pass by and I agree. I didn’t collaborate with Mosquera and I was going at a comfortable pace because I didn’t need to take out more differences,” Contador said. “Caisse d’Epargne confided in Alejandro (Valverde) and we could take advantage of their work. Ezequiel made a great climb, but there were time bonuses at the finish line, so I had to go for the win.”

Following his dramatic victory up the feared Angliru on Saturday, Contador jetted away with his second stage win in as many days.

Contador consolidates his lead going into the final week 1:17 ahead of Leipheimer, who’s clearly helping his teammate and racing for the podium.

“We have to face the final week with tranquility and good tactics,” Contador said. “We have more than a considerable difference and this team knows what it is to control a race. Now I just have to let the team do its job. We know that we will be attacked from all sides, but we have to remain calm.”

Sastre lost a little more time to Contador.

Photo: Graham Watson

Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank) remains third but ceded more time to drop to 3:41 back while Mosquera got a small reward for his efforts to nudge closer to the podium in fourth at 4:35 back.

A strong run by Robert Gesink (Rabobank) pushed him from seventh to fifth overall at 5:45 back while Valverde saw his hopes of a podium finish fade as he slumps from fifth to sixth at 6:00 back.

Mosquera peeved
Mosquera and his unsung Xacobeo-Galicia team were annoyed about how the final kilometers of the stage unfolded.

Mosquera’s second acceleration with 4km to go dropped Valverde and 2008 Tour de France winner Sastre, with Contador and Leipheimer patiently marking his wheel.

The Caisse d'Epargne team took Valverde into the final climb, but he couldn't deliver the final blow.

Photo: Graham Watson

Earlier in the stage, Caisse d’Epargne put five riders on the front to reel in an 11-man breakaway with 7km to go and were hoping to spring Valverde to victory and revive his hopes for a place on the podium.

Instead, it was Mosquera who animated the Vuelta’s last hard mountain stage.

The 32-year-old rider from Spain’s rainy Galicia region said he was planning to ask the Astana pair for some sympathy, but Contador sprung away before he had the chance to even ask.

“It was the last mountain stage so it was my last chance to do anything. I was looking a little of both – trying to race for the podium and trying to win the stage, but Astana wouldn’t give anything away,” Mosquera said. “I was going to ask them with 1km to go if they would let me win the stage, but Contador attacked before I had the chance.”

Alvaro Pino, sport director at Xacobeo-Galicia, didn’t hide his frustration that neither Contador nor Leipheimer took a pull in three kilometers of climbing before Contador attacked to win the stage.

“They don’t have any shame. Typically, when someone is doing all the work, normally you take a pull or two. The small teams can’t win a lot, but the small teams can on occasion cause some pain for the bigger teams,” Pino said. “We expected some collaboration. Of course, we cannot expect them just to give us the stage. I already spoke about it with Johan Bruyneel.”

Interestingly enough, Contador admitted that he was going to gift the stage to Valverde if the “Green Bullet” was in position to win.

“I was waiting for the attack from Alejandro, but he wasn’t as good as he had hoped. When Mosquera attacked, I felt good and stayed on his wheel,” Contador said. “I had told Valverde that if we arrived together I would let him win. It was fair because Caisse d’Epargne did all the work today and controlled the escape all day to be able to fight for the stage with its leader. They deserved it.”

Mosquera takes his chance
Juanma Garate (Quick Step) jumped with 6km to go put a quick end to Jurgen Van Goolen’s adventure, a move that drew out Ivan Velasco (Euskaltel-Euskadi) on the long, grinding climb into the heart of Spain’s lush Cantabrian mountains.

Sastre jumped out, which prompted a counter-attack from Sergio Paulinho (Astana).

Mosquera animated the last five kilometers of the climb.

Photo: Graham Watson

But it was Mosquera, who made a searing acceleration with about 5km to go to draw out the top five in GC, with Valverde, Contador, Leipheimer on the wheel and Sastre gritting his teeth to hang on.

In a bit of bad luck that torpedoed Caisse d’Epargne’s hopes to win the stage, Joaquim Rodriguez punctured with about 4.5km to go. He later dropped from sixth to seventh in what was another tough day for Caisse d’Epargne.

Mosquera dug again with just over 4km to go, first to pop Valverde and then Sastre. The Astana pair rode in his jet stream, gapping Sastre by 13 seconds with 3km to go and Valverde with 20 seconds back.

Gesink – riding in his first grand tour -- and Vuelta best-climber David Moncoutie (Cofidis) powered back from behind and Sastre quickly latched his podium hopes onto their wheels. Valverde was working with Oliver Zaugg (Gerolsteiner).

Fueled by a tailwind, Contador pounced just over 1km to go. Standing out of his saddle, Contador surged to his second consecutive victory to leave no doubt who’s the top dog at the Vuelta.

The break and chase
Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) was the day’s lone non-starter. The Olympic silver medalist was sitting nice in the top 10, but decided that preparing for the world championships on home roads was more important than finishing the Vuelta.

The stage opened with a string of short but steep third category climbs, perfect hunting country for breakaways.

Cunego and Chavanel lead the break.

Photo: Graham Watson

Early attempts by Yaroslav Popovych (Silence-Lotto) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre) were chased down by Caisse d’Epargne, but Cunego attacked again and helped forge the day’s main breakaway.

By the day’s third climb at the Cat. 3 Alto de Santo Emiliano, the gap grew north of three minutes. In the move were: Cunego, David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne), Martin Velits (Milram), Xavier Cabre (Bouygues Telecom), Vasili Kiryienka (Tinkoff), former race leader Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), Iban Mayoz (Xacobeo Galicia), Jurgen van Goolen (CSC), best-placed at 14th at 11:42; Iñigo Landaluze (Euskaltel), Dmitry Kozontchuk (Rabobank) and David Dapena (Xacobeo Galicia).

The gap never grew more than four and a half minutes as Astana didn’t want the gap to grow dangerously large.

After picking their way over two difficult first category climbs – including the Cat. 1 Alto de Colladiella – where the former Liberty Seguros team sprung a trap on Denis Menchov in 2005.

Van Goolen was the last survivor of the break.

Photo: Graham Watson

The Russian was in the race lead, but Roberto Heras and nearly the entire team swarmed Menchov with an attack on the descent before Heras rode away with eventual victory up the Parajes climb. Tactically brilliant, but ethically challenged, Heras later tested positive for EPO and Menchov inherited the Vuelta title.

Caisse d’Epargne put five of its riders at the front of the pack to close down the gap. Once the

“We chased because Arroyo didn’t have great chances for the win today out of the breakaway,” said Caisse d’Epargne sport director Eusebio Unzue. “We were hoping to win the stage with Alejandro. His morale was on the up after his second place yesterday up the Angliru, but maybe he went too hard. It’s been a long season for Alejandro and you can see Contador benefited from missing the Tour because he is by far the freshest rider here.”

With 10km to go, only Van Goolen was remaining off the front and his 1:13 head-start wasn’t going to be enough.

Surges by Andrea Tonti (Quick Step) and Walter Pedreza (Tinkoff) were short-lived as Caisse d’Epargne kept up the pressure. The pace shrunk the gap to 25 to 30 riders with nine kilometers to go.

Vuelta a España - Stage 15

Monday’s stage
The 63rd Vuelta continues Monday with the 202km 15th stage from Cudillero to Ponferrada. The route tackles the Cat. 1 Alto de Somiedo midway through the stage as the Vuelta climbs back onto the northern meseta after a start along the wild northern coast.

In what’s an ideal stage for attackers, the route also features the Cat. 2 Los Lobos climb at 140km and the Cat. 3 Ocero climb with 40km to go. The stage finishes with a small circuit around Ponferrada, known for its Knights of the Templar castle.

Cudillero is hosting its first Vuelta start while Ponferrada last hosted a stage in 1989, with Roberto Pagnin taking the win.