The Spanish Caisse d’Epargne rider had been part of a 12 man break for about 100 km when he decided to attack on the last big climb. He and a teammate took off and stayed away together. They stayed ahead of the seven remaining members of their original group until the last 4 or 5 km where the teammate was swallowed up.

The first chasing group had been spurred on all day by Skil-Shimano’s Maarten Tjallingii, who saw a very real opportunity to win the red leader’s jersey on his home soil after GC Leader Nick Nuyens (Cofidis) crashed early in the stage and had to abandon. None of the remaining members of Tjallingii’s chase group were willing to help him catch Lastre. They waited instead to sprint past him in the last 250 M to vie for second.

The Peleton fell almost 4 minutes behind Tjallingii’s group. Rabobank knew Dutch rider Thomas Dekker could win the red jersey if the Pelaton finished less than a minute behind Tjallingii, so they took to the front to set pace. Several other teams eventually put men on the front to keep the GC race within striking distance in tomorrow’s time trial.

Lastras won the stage but Decker will wear red in tomorrow’s time trial. Britain’s David Millar (Saunier Duval) probably has the best chance to overtake Decker tomorrow. Time will tell.

Every cycling fan should watch a video of today’s stage. It is available for free at www.cycling.tv at 400 kbs. Faster data rates are available on in the pay per view areas of that site.