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Mirador de Lobeira - American Chris Horner of the RadioShack team has claimed his first grand tour victory in the third stage of the Tour of Spain on Monday and took the overall lead in the process.
The 41-year-old produced an impressive kick in the 4km climb to the finishing line to edge out 2009 champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez, who finished third in this year's Tour de France.
Overnight leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) finished 11th, the Giro d'Italia champion dropping to second overall just six seconds behind Horner.
"I arrived in great form, I like the route of this tour and I feel strong," Horner said after being presented with the leader's red jersey.
"My objective is to be as high as possible in the general classification. I have already won the Tour of the Basque country and I think I can win the Tour of Spain."
It was another solid day for Valverde and Rodriguez as they continued to make up the time they lost in the team time trail on the opening day, with six and four bonus seconds respectively for their places on the podium.
"I feel good and you can see that based on what I am showing in the race. It was a shame that we didn't quite manage the victory again today, but it is a positive to pick up bonuses," said Valverde who currently lies sixth in the overall classification, 24 seconds behind Horner.
Meanwhile, Sky leader Sergio Henao endured another frustrating day however as he now trails the leaders by over three minutes.
Team director for the race Nicolas Portal said earlier in the day that the Colombian had amazingly forgotten to eat during the second stage on Sunday, leaving him drained as he was dropped from the peloton on the demanding category one climb up the Alto do Monte da Groba.
And his luck didn't improve on Monday as he first suffered a puncture and was then involved in a minor crash.
A second crash involving one of the pre-stage favuourites Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) then split the peloton into two groups with Movistar, Astana and Katusha pushing the pace in the leading pack.
Results Monday from the third stage of the 68th Spanish Vuelta, a 172km ride from Vigo to Vilagarcia de Arousa:
1. Christopher Horner, United States, RadioShack-Leopard, 4 hours, 30 minutes, 18 seconds.
2. Alejandro Valverde, Spain, Movistar, 3 seconds behind.
3. Joaquim Rodriguez, Spain, Katusha, same time.
4. Rigoberto Uran, Colombia, Sky, same time.
5. Daniel Martin, Ireland, Garmin Sharp, same time.
6. Bauke Mollema, Netherlands, Belkin, same time.
7. Michele Scarponi, Italy, Lampre-Merida, same time.
8. Haimar Zubeldia, Spain, RadioShack-Leopard, same time.
9. Nicolas Roche, Ireland, SaxoBank-Tinkoff, same time.
10. Ivan Basso, Italy, Cannondale, same time.
Overall Standings:
1. Christopher Horner, United States, RadioShack-Leopard, 9 hours, 37 minutes, 40 seconds.
2. Vincenzo Nibali, Italy, Astana, 3 seconds behind.
3. Nicolas Roche, Ireland, SaxoBank-Tinkoff, :11.
4. Haimar Zubeldia, Spain, RadioShack-Leopard, :13.
5. Robert Kiserlovski, Croatia, RadioShack-Leopard, :23.
6. Alejandro Valverde, Spain, Movistar, :24.
7. Rigoberto Uran, Colombia, Sky, :25.
8. Rafal Majka, Poland, SaxoBank-Tinkoff, :35.
9. Daniel Moreno, Spain, Katusha, :44.
10. Roman Kreuziger, Czech Republic, SaxoBank-Tinkoff, :45.
