Pérez was chased by a group with riders like Denis Menchov (Rabobank) , Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) and Carlos Sastre (CSC). With 100 kilometers to go Carlos Sastre attacke out of the group with all favourites for the general classification.  Vladimir Efimkin could't follow the CSC captain. As a result the Russian rider of the Caisse d’Epargne  squad couldn't defend his second place in the overall classification. Efimkin is on the fifth place in the general classification now.

This meant that Sastre got his money's worth as a reward for his courageous attempt and advanced to a third place in the general classification ahead of the final mountain stage.

"It was simply a world class team effort out there today. And it was no coincidence either. We decided on the tactics yesterday and everything turned out just perfect. We had to work for it, but it was worth it. Carlos was brilliant, when he escaped and the rest of our guys gave all they had in order to create a gap. To make something like that work is very rare, but we made it out there today and we have every reason in the world to give both Carlos and the rest of the team some serious well-earned credit. Their effort means, that a podium spot is within reach in Madrid on Sunday and there's no doubt that we enter the very final phase of this race with a morale that's sky high,"said an extremely satisfied CSC sports director Kim Andersen after the stage.

In the finale, Efimkin's Caisse d'Epargne team  managed to reduce the lead of the groupw with Saster, Evans and Menchov a little bit, but the two minutes he ended up with have almost certainly ruined his chances of winning the Vuelta. "In that way, things worked out really well for us today," Rabobank sports director Erik Breukink said mildly enthusiastically. "Denis let himself be sucked along perfectly by CSC. It was a feat by that team, though, because these are the kind of stages in which you can take advantage of this kind of attacks by your team. They did that really well."