Antón still in red

Igor Antón retained his red jersey with ease on today's rather flat stage 12 between Andorra la Vella and Lleida. The stage was earmarked for the sprinters, meaning Euskaltel got ample help from a number of teams early on to keep the dangerously-looking break in check. It came down to the anticipated mass dash for the line, but Koldo didn't quite have the legs to stay where he would've needed to if he was to sprint for a top placing. Inside the last kilometre he realised this and sat up, deeming it pointless to take risks just to get 10th. Eventually he got 19th. Everyone but Txurruka and Intxausti stayed in touch with the peloton; the diminutive duo went out the back inside the last five or six kilometres when their job for the day was pretty much done. The former ended up half a minute in arrears, while the latter conceded 1:31. Man-of-the-moment Antón was rather pleased with how it all panned out, saying afterwards: "Its been a stage in which we've controlled the race from the start. It was a stage for the sprinters, so their teams helped us out. This way another day has passed. There was a lot of tension towards the end of the stage, but we took control and we got through the day".