Vuelta stage 5 & Poitou Cha. stage 2

It was another day of struggle for Igor Antón today. The Euskaltel captain was nowhere near to take back-to-back Vuelta stages in Valdepeñas de Jáen earlier today as he went out the back once the peloton started the final, brutishly steep climb. In the end he ceded 57 seconds to a dominating Purito Rodríguez and 46 to Nibali, Menchov and co. It was a sad sight seeing Antón struggle throughout - he nearly got dropped on the cat. 2 climb preceding the final climb - but Mikel Nieve once again showed his form is where it should be with a solid performance. The lanky climber finished 13th at 11 seconds, and thus didn't lose any time to Nibali and Menchov. He even gained a few seconds on riders like Wiggins, Brajkovic, Cobo and Martin, so he'll be pleased with his performance on a climb not particularly suited to him. Heading into tomorrow's sixth stage he's 14th overall, 57 seconds down on leader Chavanel. Stage results:

• 13, Mikel Nieve, 0:11
• 44, Amets Txurruka, 0:56
• 45, Igor Antón, 0:57
• 67, Juan José Oroz, 6:18
• 78, Egoi Martínez, 9:16
• 80, Gorka Verdugo, s.t.
• 94, Iñaki Isasi, 9:42
• 153, Jorge Azanza, 15:23

According to himself, Igor Antón is not suffering from a virus or anything like that. He has no explanation for his lack of form, but perhaps the Giro took too much out of him (like de Galdeano was afraid it would). It's anyone's guess really.

As expected, stage two of the Poitou Charentes came down to a bunch kick, but Euskaltel and Koldo Fernández were unlucky as a massive pile-up inside the last kilometre brought down Koldo along with a host of other riders. Luckily he escaped serious injury though, so he'll be back to fight another day tomorrow. It was a discreet performance from the rest of the riders as they failed to set the race alight. All bar Sicard came in with the main pack though, so all GC options remain intact. The Frenchman, still finding his feet, had another tough day at the office and came home with a small group of riders 5:49 down on winner Hutarovich.