Caisse d'Epargne's long haired Russian rider Vladimir Karpets was for a while the virtual race leader of the Vuelta in stage 10, but his role was to ensure an easy day for his team and the maillot oro Alejandro Valverde. "I felt very well and I am happy because thanks to my presence in the breakaway, our team had not to take the responsibility of the pursuit," he said. "I think I helped on my part. In the final I tried to attack to see if I had a chance to go for the stage win but I knew it would be very difficult. On the final climb I could not cope with the continuous changes of rhythm."
