Recent Vuelta a España history replayed itself on stage 9 of the race as Movistar once again lost the overall lead, for the second time in less a week - and once again minimized the importance of ceding the top spot overall.
In what was effectively a re-run of the stage 4 scenario to San Andres de Texeiro that saw breakaway Darwin Atapuma (BMC) take over the lead from Ruben Fernandez (Movistar), five days later David De La Cruz (Etixx-Quick Step) gained enough time in a break to a summit finish to oust Movistar's Nairo Quintana from the top spot overall.
Strengthening the comparison, just like in San Andres de Texeiro, the favourites powered up the final ascent of Naranco at speed, but grouped without any significant attempts to blast out of the pack. Just like on the Galician climb, there was even, once again, a solid attempt by Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) to break out of the pack, presumably once again to put pressure on Movistar.
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But the end result was exactly the same: Movistar losing the lead with the clear expectation that it would return to the Spanish team's clutches in the not-too-distant future and all the top favourites crossing the line together. The only difference, perhaps, was rather than a Colombian taking the jersey away from a Spaniard as happened with Fernandez and Atapuma, this time the roles were reversed and a Spaniard removed the lead from a Colombian.
"Losing the jersey is not a problem at all," Alejandro Valverde, third overall, said afterwards. "You could even say we wanted it given how the race played out."
Indeed, Movistar tapped out a solid rhythm behind that kept the gap at five minutes rather than the eight new leader David De La Cruz said he had hoped for, but there was never a ferocious acceleration by the men in dark blue of the type that could have seen the gap come down quicker.
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