Landa wins mammoth Vuelta stage, Aru rides into red

Mikel Landa (Astana) won the 11th stage of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race on Wednesday on a day which tested all of the competitors to the limit.

Landa was the strongest rider on a day which tested every rider in the race and found some of the wanting.

He was able to maintain his lead on the final climb of the day, finishing ahead of team-mate Fabio Aru, who also claims the red jersey of the overall race leader, ahead of Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) and overnight leader Tom Dumoulin, who produced a brave ride despite not being a specialist climbed.

Wednesday's 11th stage included four first category, one second category and one extra-category climb in just under 140 kilometers of riding and has been described as perhaps the hardest stage ever included for a major tour.

One that that was certain is that it would prove to be a major test for overall race contenders and have a major effect on the overall destiny of the Vuelta.

One rider who won't retain happy memories of the day is Tour de France winner, Chris Froome who suffered a bad fall in just the third kilometer of the stage.

Although Froome was able to reconnect with the main group, he lost ground on the fourth major climb of the day and ended up eight minutes off the pace.

Meanwhile other race favorites, Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana from the Movistar team, both suffered on the final climb of the day and lost time in the overall qualification with Quintana finishing almost 3 minutes down on the stage winner. Endit