As it happened: Breakaway takes surprise victory on hectic stage 11

Hola and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 11 of La Vuelta a España!

Today's stage starts and finishes in the concello of Padrón, with 166.5km of hilly racing in between.

The parcours make this just as much a day for the breakaway as the GC favourites (if they fancy it!) so we're expecting it to be a lively one! 

Padrón has already hosted two Vuelta stages, both time trials in 1993 and in 2021.

The latter was the final stage of that year's Grand Tour.

The riders have already been through the sign-on and team presentation this morning so are preparing for the neutralised start.

We might've predicted it being a day for the breakaway or the GC men, but don't write off Wout van Aert making it a fourth, and a back-to-back, stage win in Padrón later if he manages to keep pace on the climbs.

These fans certainly aren't doubting him!

The riders have gone for their unofficial start for stage 11.

There's 5.8km of neutralised road before the flag is dropped.

We've had three casualties this morning ahead of the stage start.

Both Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) have tested positive for COVID-19.

Whilst Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty) abandoned the race due to knee pain from his crash on stage 9.

It means that there are 156 riders, out of an original 176, left in the race.

Here's stage 11 getting underway moments ago...

While we wait for the flag drop, here's how yesterday's stage unfolded.

Vuelta a España: Wout van Aert solidifies green jersey with stage 10 victory

And the official start is given. We're racing!

DSM-Firmenich PostNL's Julius van den Berg is the first to make an attack but he's swiftly reeled in.

We're already 7km through the stage, with a high pace being set as riders vie for the breakaway.

Next to try their luck is Pablo Castrillo, but it's not to be for the Equipo Kern Pharma rider just yet.

The foot of the first categorised climb of the day is 17km down the road.

At 10.2km in distance and an average gradient of 4.2%, the Puerto San Xusto is only a third-category climb and isn't likely to be too challenging for the bunch.

Still no signs of a clear cut break. Lots of teams battling for it, but no one's managed to make a move stick.

Five riders have managed to force a small break.

Strangely, the stage will go through the finish line for the first time today after just 67km. 

They'll then take in a 36.7km loop that includes the Puerto Aguasantas, followed by a 61.9km loop that includes both the Puerto Aguasantas and Puerto Cruxeiras climbs.

The small group of riders that attempted to form a breakaway was actually eight-man strong, however they've since been reeled in.

The peloton, altogether still, has reached the base of the Puerto San Xusto.

Another set of attacks on the climb, but nothing is sticking so far.

Just to bring everyone up to speed on the overall standings, Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) leads the way with a 3:53 gap over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) sits in third on 4:32, with Enric Mas (Movistar) just three seconds back in fourth.

Mikel Landa (5:17), Florian Lipowitz (5:29), Adam Yates (5:30), Felix Gall (s.t), Carlos Rodríguez (6:00) and David Gaudu (6:32) round out the top-10.

130km to go

More attacks on the slopes of Puerto San Xusto.

Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) holds a 20 second lead on the peloton.

He's currently tailed by Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Louis Meintjes (Intermaché-Wanty) and Urko Berrade (Equipo Kern Pharma) who sit 10 seconds behind the lone leader.

Chris Harper (Team Jayco AlUla) has been forced to abandon the race.

Fine margins between the bunch and the attackers currently. 

We've had more accelerations now, with Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) one of the riders to make the move.

KOM (Puerto San Xusto)

Frigo takes the maximum three points at the summit, with Berrade and Rubén Fernández (Cofidis) taking two and one points, respectively.

Moments later though, and the bunch have reeled all the attackers in once again.

Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) swiftly attacks on the descent. 

Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and Casper Pedersen (T-Rex Quick-Step) attempted to stick with him but were quickly caught.

The TT specialist holds a lead of 19 seconds currently.

Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) has set off in chase, sitting halfway between the leader and the bunch.

The Frenchman is tagged. 

Campenaerts leads by 30 seconds now.

Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers), who has been very active today, is attempting to join up with the Belgian.

There's a small group off the front including the Ecuadorian and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis). 

The gap from Campenaerts to the peloton is now 40 seconds.

The chasing group of eight riders are close to making contact with the Belgian.

Attacks aplenty from the peloton. 

It's keeping the pace high, and making it hard for a break to truly snap the elastic of the bunch.

It's pretty chaotic at the front of the race right now, several groups trying to make their moves stick.

100km to go

10km to the foot of our next climb, the Puerto Aguasantas.

The race passes through the finish line for the first of three times, still the break isn't set in stone.

Campenaerts has been caught by the two chasing groups.

There's now a lead group of at least 30 riders, but it's not quite done and dusted just yet.

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) is the breakaway rider with the best positioning in the GC standings. 

He sits at 12:23.

A crash for Richard Carapaz. 

The Ecuadorian caught his wheel on the edge of the road. He's back on his bike but looking quite sheepish.

Arjen Livyns has accelerated away from the leading pack. 

He's at the foot of the Puerto Aguasantas (5.6km at 6.1%) and leads by seven seconds.

Another group of five riders are attempting to bridge across the the leading pack. 

It includes George Bennett (Israel-Premier Tech) who sits at just 9:50 down on the red jersey.

It looks like our breakaway is set for today.

Livyns has been tagged, so it brings us to 39 riders. They hold a three minute lead on the peloton.

Just when it looked like the break was calming down, Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) pushes on up the climb.

No one else has followed the Belgian, so he's climbing on his own currently.

Meurisse has made his move look effortless. 

He sits just over a minute ahead the rest of the breakaway.

The gap back the peloton has gone out to over six minutes now.

A quick bike change for Ben O'Connor. He seems very calm as he hops off one bike and takes another from the team mechanic. 

KOM (Puerto Aguasantas)

Meurisse took the maximum five points on the climb, with Frigo and Guillaume Martin picking up three and one points, respectively.

Speaking of climbing, let's quickly recap the KOM standings.

Adam Yates holds the jersey currently, tied on 22 points with green jersey owner Wout van Aert.

Primož Roglič is four points further back on 18 alongside David Gaudu. 

Jay Vine sits in fifth, on 17 points.

La Vuelta sharing some views of the incredible Galician scenery on show during stage 11.

Of course, we couldn't go a whole stage in Galicia without talking about some of their cuisine, and with the stage starting and finishing in Padrón, we had to mention the peppers!

Padrón peppers, also known as Pimiento de Padrón or Herbón peppers, are a common tapas dish. 

While they're said to be a fairly mild pepper, some individual peppers can be rather spicy - it's led to them often being called the "Russian Roulette" peppers.

George Bennett is up to fifth in the virtual GC. 

The Kiwi has three Israel-Premier Tech teammates in the break with him and they could be used to tee their leader up for dig at the stage win.

We mentioned earlier that La Vuelta visited Padrón in 2021, on the final stage of that year's edition.

It was the place where Primož Roglič secured a third consecutive overall victory at the race, winning the stage 21 ITT in the process too.

Israel-Premier Tech have two riders at the head of the chasing group attempting to reel in Meurisse but he's holding firm impressively.

There's still 1:24 back to the chase group, while the bunch are a further five minutes down the road.

The Israel-Premier Tech riders in the break are setting a really tough pace, with riders going backwards now.

10 riders have been dropped from the main chasing group. Meurisse still leads by just under a minute, though.

For a second time today, we're just a kilometre from the top of the Puerto Aguasantas.

The climb has split the chasing pack into three.

Meurisse leads solo, ahead of an 18-man group contain Nárvaez and Bennett.

Two groups, of 12 and eight respectively, are further down the climb.

KOM (Puerto Aguasantas)

Meurisse takes the maximum five points over the top.

The gap back to the peloton is pushing out towards seven minutes, while Meurisse holds a 40 second advantage.

40km to go

Thanks to the breakaway's pace, George Bennett is up to third on the virtual GC.

The gap to Meurisse has dwindled, with just 25 seconds between the lone leader and the chasers now.

Some interesting news coming out of the UAE Team Emirates at La Vuelta earlier today.

Isaac del Toro tests positive for COVID-19 at Vuelta a España but cleared to race

Just over 10km until the intermediate sprint at O Sisto.

Movistar have leant a hand to Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale back in the bunch, it's seen the gap drop down to nearly five minutes.

Meanwhile, Xandro Meurisse has been caught.

He'll almost certainly claim the combativity award for his efforts today.

Eight of the 33 riders in the breakaway have won a Grand Tour stage before today.

35-year-old Ion Izagirre sits at the top of that list with four in total - two at the Tour de France, with one each at the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España respectively.

Xabier Isasa has punched out with 28.5km remaining.

It's a bold move by the Spaniard but perhaps the intention was just for some TV airtime.

Mechanical issue for Nico Denz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

Intermediate sprint (O sisto)

Meurisse managed to snag the full 20 points from the sprint before he was caught. 

Ibon ruiz (17), Nico Denz (15), George Bennett (13) and Marco Frigo (10) claimed the rest of the points from the break.

25km to go

We're just 14km from the foot of the final, and steepest, climb of the day: The Puerto Cruxeiras.

The Puerto Cruxeiras might only be 2.8km in length but it averages 9%, with two 600m segments sitting at 11.1% and 10% respectively.

There's not just La Vuelta on the agenda today, by the way.

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We've still got 32 riders in the break as we approach the final climb.

Alongside stage favourite Narváez, there's also the likes of Brandon McNulty, Dani Martínez, George Bennett, Eddie Dunbar, Max Poole, Guillaume Martin and Carlos Verona, that will be vying for a stage win.

DSM-Firmenich PostNL are now setting the pace as we wind up to the climb.

Victor Campenaerts has gone to the front of the leading group and split it in two purely down to the pace he's setting. 

10km to go

However, the Belgian has imploded as the climb begins to ramp up.

Lidl-Trek's Carlos Verona is one of the riders still at the fore.

Urko Berrade and Gijs Leemreize are both keeping up with Verona.

Brandon Rivera is not far behind, riding at his own pace.

Meanwhile, back in the bunch and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are hammering it as the climb comes into sight. Could Roglič be plotting an attack?

Ben O'Connor is isolated at the front of the bunch. 

The red jersey has teammates in the group but they're dangling off the back as opposed to leading it over the climb.

There's a gap forming in the peloton and Roglič takes full advantage.

The Slovenian and Enric Mas have accelerated off the front.

The trio of leaders are over the summit now.

6.6km remaining.

Ben O'Connor is being distanced from yet more GC contenders. 

Less than 3km to go. 

Max Poole has bridged across to the lead group.

Jhonatan Narváez is also there, with four riders leading by a slender margin.

The chase group looks set to bridge across, it'll likely be a reduced sprint.

1km to go

Carlos Verona is attacking again and again.

Late flyer from Eddie Dunbar and it looks like he'll make it stick!

The Irishman puts his head in his hands in sheer disbelief as he crosses the line to win stage 11 of the Vuelta a España!

Its a first top-level win for Dunbar in Team Jayco AlUla colours.

Meanwhile, further back, Roglič continues to power home in a bid to cut the gap on GC.

Roglič crosses the line 3:30 back. What sized dent can he put into Ben O'Connor?

O'Connor crosses the line 38 seconds later. 

It's not the end of the world, but it probably wasn't in the plans of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale at the start of the day.

Amazingly, it's only his third win on the road during Eddie Dunbar's career.

If you count his National Championships victory last year then it bumps that up to four.

Either way, it's a remarkable victory for the man from Cork.

Some quotes from today's stage winner, Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla):

"It's weird how it goes sometimes, I had a really bad start to the race and lost loads of time. I came here to race GC and I realised pretty quickly that I didn't have the legs to do it. My preparation was really good here so it was a case of reassessing and just going for a stage.

"Today came [about] an opportunity that I didn't expect as I tried hard to get in the break and I just thought that my legs [had] gone, then all of a sudden the big group went. I thought me and Pippo [Zana] rode very well in the break and were very smart. Here we are, I can't believe it."

Here's the stage standings from today.

Some more quotes from Dunbar:

"It's been a while since I've been in a scenario like this if I'm honest and I just used my experience. I was suffering a bit on the big climb. I just played my cards and said 'I'd gamble and back my finish.' 

"It's incredible I mean, since the Vuelta last year I've had 7 or 8 crashes. Physically that takes a toll but mentally it took its toll on me as well. I've had numerous times in my head where I might not have a future in this sport just because of the crashes and injuries I've had. This year after the Giro when I injured my LCL I thought that could be the nail in the coffin in terms of my cycling career." 

After a solid effort in today's breakaway that has seen him move up the GC standings, George Bennett (Israel-Premier Tech) said:

"It's so complicated, nobody now is riding for their top 10 but maybe in a few days, guys might start riding to keep the gaps small. So it might be the last few opportunities where we see guys jumping into the top-10 in the next four days.

"I mean I don't know, what do I know. I'm probably completely wrong!" he chuckled.

The GC standings are now in, with Carlos Rodríguez being the biggest mover - from ninth to sixth, and just two minutes back from Primož Roglič. 

Enric Mas also leapfrogs Richard Carapaz into third, with the Movistar man on 3:58 now.

As just mentioned, George Bennett has moved into the top-10 too, moving up six places to tenth on 5:46.

Ineos Grenadiers' Carlos Rodríguez finds himself moving into the white jersey today too.

The Spaniard sits six seconds ahead of Lipowitz with 10 stages remaining.

In case you want a recap of today's racing, check out our race report here:

Vuelta a España: Eddie Dunbar solos to stage 11 victory from breakaway