Wiggins keeps red jersey as Albasini grabs stage win

HTC-Highroad rider Michael Albasini won the 13th stage of the Vuelta a Espana yesterday while Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins retained the red jersey.

Albasini, from Switzerland, broke away from the pack with Spaniard Angel Madrazo (Movistar Team) and overtook compatriot Oliver Zaugg (Leopard Trek) after he had made an early break on the 158-km mountain stage from Sarria to Ponferrada.

The 30-year-old held on to cross the line first, in four hours 19 minutes 39 seconds, with Italy’s Eros Capecchi (Liquigas-Cannondale) second and Spain’s Daniel Moreno (Katusha Team) third.

Wiggins finished in 26th place to maintain his seven-second gap in the general classification over fellow Briton and team-mate Christopher Froome, although the latter has been overtaken in second spot by Liquigas-Cannondale rider Vincenzo Nibali of Italy.

Nibali earned a six-second bonus in the first hour of racing and ended the day four seconds behind Wiggins. Nibali sheered off the front on the twisting descent of first-category climb the Ancares, midway through the stage, in a group of nine riders but after a relentless, 20-km pursuit, Wiggins’s team caught up.

“I was cautious on the descent, I knew they weren’t going to stay away and, to be honest, I didn’t really care,” said Wiggins. “It’s fantastic I’ve got the jersey for another day, and I’ll go on fighting but I’m not going to get stressed about it.”

The race ends on 11 September in Madrid.