Francisco Mancebo was dropped at least twice on the grinding climb to the Arcalís ski station high in the Andorran mountains, but each time he fought his way back to rejoin a lead group composed of all of the Vuelta a España’s top players. The Illes Balears captain put everything into a last-gasp dig to bridge back to three-time Vuelta champion Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) and race leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank) with 3.5km to go, then found the legs to sprint to victory in Monday’s four-climb, 206.3km 10th stage. “I won more today with the heart than the legs,” said Mancebo, who nudged into third overall after the effort. “I’m not as strong as Menchov or Heras, but it’s very satisfying to get this victory.” The victory was Mancebo’s first major win in a grand tour despite consistently finishing in the top 10. He also became just the second Spanish rider to win a stage halfway through the 60th Vuelta and kept the suspense building as pre-race favorite Heras was unable to shake the stubborn Menchov on the long climb. Menchov was isolated without Rabobank teammates very early in the hard-fought stage that saw 2001 Vuelta champion Angel Casero (Comunidad Valenciana) and stage seven winner Max Van Heeswijk (Discovery Channel) abandon and Aitor Osa (Illes Balears) crash out with a broken clavicle. Menchov, who grabbed back the leader’s jersey after winning Sunday’s time trial, measured his efforts to keep Heras on a tight rein despite being outgunned by Liberty Seguros. “They had to try to attack me and all I had to do was withstand the attacks. It’s one day less in the race,” said Menchov, now 47 seconds ahead of Heras. “I’m taking it day to day. It’s still a long way to Madrid.” Tom Danielson struggled to keep pace about midway up the final 17.3km climb to Arcalís, but hung on nicely to finish 10th at 1:16 back, only forfeiting one spot in the GC to sit sixth at 4:23 back. Discovery Channel teammate Manuel Beltrán also rode well to move to eighth at 4:29 back. Never a dull moment
The was a chance of rain hanging over the peloton all day, but the weather gods shined on the peloton and nary a drop of the wet stuff fell. Unai Yus (Bouygues Telecom) didn't take the start, leaving 178 riders to roll out of Olot west of Barcelona. With so much on the line, it didn't take long before riders were on the attack. After one failed attack, another group of riders snuck away at 15km, including Eladio Jiménez (Comunidad Valenciana) and Joaquin Rodriguez (Saunier Duval). The pair would duke it all day for the climber's jersey, with Jiménez retaining the jersey by a slender 1pt margin at the end of the day. The early climbs provoked various chases, counter-attacks and action in the peloton. At the day’s second climb, the Cat. 1 Port de Collada de Tosses, Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (Phonak) led a group of attacking riders. Also there were Jiménez, Rodriguez, Michele Scarponi (Liberty Seguros), Rik Verbrugghe (Quick Step), Stijn Devolder (Discovery Channel) and Oscar Pereiro (Phonak). The speed was putting the hurt on the main bunch and Menchov was soon left without teammates after just 80km in the race. “My team did the best they could and they helped me a lot in the early part of the stage,” said the diplomatic Menchov. “We have a young team here, but they're doing everything they can to help.” The fatigue of the day’s efforts trimmed the attacking group to just four riders on the Cat. 1 Collet de Montaup with 25km to go. David Lopez (Euskaltel), Aitor Osa (Illes Balears), Rik Verbrugghe (Quick Step) and Adolfo Garcia Quesada (Comunidad Valenciana) were 2:55 ahead of the chasing Juan Miguel Mercado (Quick Step) and 3:15 ahead of the main bunch. Lopez gave up the chase on the climb, leaving Verbrugghe, Osa and Garcia Quesada (the older brother of teammate Carlos) to put up the good fight. The hard-chasing Mercado found some company with Jiménez and Carlos Garcia Quesada (both CV), Joan Horrach (Illes Balears), Oscar Sevilla (T-Mobile) and Rodriguez. On the descent, Osa came in too hot on a corner, crashed hard on his left shoulder and abandoned with a broken clavicle. Verbrugghe would dangle off the front, but eventually succumb on the lower ramps of the final climb to Arcalís. Final run to Arcalís
Comunidad Valenciana was trying to blow open the race, hoping to push one of its riders into the stage victory and nudge Carlos Garcia Quesada higher in the GC, but the concerted effort of the main bunch spoiled the team’s best-laid plans. “I gave everything, I couldn’t finish it off,” said Garcia Quesada, who moved to fifth overall for his efforts. “We had the wind against and we saved everything for the final climb, but it wasn’t enough. We’re a really fighting team, today we gave a spectacle to try to win. If we have the strength we will try to be in the first places and, why not, winning the race?” On the lower ramps of the climb, Liberty Seguros and Team CSC were taking turns setting a damaging pace that quickly whittled the lead group to about 20 riders. With 10km to go, Aitor González (Euskaltel) tried to slip away, but Beltrán quickly marked the move. Danielson was still okay as Carlos Sastre (CSC) powered to the front of the group. Sastre would later struggle and come across the line eighth at 21 seconds back and slip to fourth overall at 1:57 back. “Carlos felt really strong at the foot of the decisive climb, so we put Calvente and Piil up front to set the pace. With about six kilometers to go Carlos hit a bad patch and instead of risking a total meltdown, he made the sensible choice to ride at his own pace and he did actually manage to limit his time loss quite well,” said Team CSC sport director Kim Andersen. “The other day Carlos was a bit better than Mancebo and today it was the other way round. The time differences are still very small. The way it looks right now Heras and Menchov are the strongest. But there's almost two full weeks left and a lot can happen in that time.” Marcos Serrano (Liberty Seguros) took a hard pull that caused Danielson to lose contact as the lead bunch was trimmed to just Heras, Menchov and Mercado, Garcia Quesada and Sevilla from the early breakaway. Beltrán and Mancebo were caught back at 7km to go at 50sec back, but Mancebo dug deep to catch the wheel. Mancebo would be dropped again, but he fought back with 3km to stay close to Heras. With five riders up front, only Heras and Mercado had the legs to try to leave the others behind. Each time, Menchov was on Heras’s wheel like glue. “I think it all worked out pretty good,” Menchov said. “I didn’t do any work so I wasn’t going to try to win the stage. The others had worked, so I wasn’t going to try to contest the sprint.” Heras tried to drop Menchov, but the final ramps at Arcalis weren’t steep enough for his tastes. Unlike his victory at Valdelinares on Thursday when he dropped the entire peloton, Heras couldn’t gap Menchov and had to settle to try win in a five-up sprint. “I felt good, especially when I attacked about 5km to go, but I couldn’t keep going because this climb isn’t that hard,” Heras said. “The hardest part was at the beginning and Menchov was glued to my wheel.” Heras cautioned that “there’s a lot of Vuelta still to go” and said it’s not important to try to make time every day, but rather measure the efforts for the decisive moments. “In a race of three weeks, the key is to be consistent,” said Heras, trying to become the first rider to win four Vueltas. “The regret today is that I couldn’t win the stage. I started the sprint, but Mancebo came very strong from behind me. I saw him coming, but there was nothing I could do.” After the dust settled, Mancebo was happy with the win, Menchov was satisfied to keep the jersey and Heras was quietly plotting his next attack. Just another day at the Vuelta, which continues steep and deep in Tuesday’s climbing stage to Cerler.

Stage Results
1. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, 5:33:49
2. Roberto Heras (Sp), Liberty Seguros, same time
3. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank s.t.
4. Carlos Garcia Quesada (Sp), Comunidad Valenciana, at 0:02
5. Juan Miguel Mercado (Sp), Quickstep, at 0:06
6. Manuel Beltran (Sp), Discovery Channel, at 0:16
7. Ruben Plaza (Sp), Comunidad Valenciana, at 0:16
8. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, at 0:21
9. Oscar Sevilla (Sp), T-Mobile, at 0:28
10. Tom Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, at 1:16
FullResults

Overall
1. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 39:57:42
2. Roberto Heras (Sp), Liberty Seguros, at 0:47
3. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, at 1:53
4. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, at 1:57
5. Carlos Garcia Quesada (Sp), Comunidad Valenciana, at 3:31
6. Tom Danielson (USA), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, at 4:23
7. Ruben Plaza (Sp), Comunidad Valenciana, at 4:27
8. Manuel Beltran (Sp), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, at 4:29
9. Juan Miguel Mercado (Sp), Quickstep, at 5:05
10. Michele Scarponi (I), Liberty Seguros, at 5:14
FullResults