Vuelta a Espana 2023 Stage 11 recap: Jesus Herrada secures polka dot jersey with breakaway win

But you have to feel sorry for his Cofidis soigneur, who was taken out by security guards while celebrating the Spaniard's win at the finish...

Asked if Ineos had put their Plan B into practice today, Geraint Thomas said: "Yeah, not quite. Well, half of it. We wanted to be in the break. Ideally we wanted two of us, and me and Pippo is a good combination. But I said to him halfway round that I wasn’t feeling great. I’m not sure if the car thought I was being nervous or not confident, but I was being honest. They tried geeing me up – and Pippo really did his best for me, and I appreciated that. Just disappointed that I couldn’t finish it off.

"I felt that I had no real gas at the end. Bit limited, but we gave everything and that’s what we had on the day. Seeing Pippo at the start reminded me of Van Aert of the Tour – he was going and the bunch was splitting in the wind. He’s got so much gas. He’s going well and it was great to have him there. But the final climb was too steep. I couldn’t quite finish it off but we’ll keep trying."

For all that effort, Geraint Thomas only rose three places in the general classification. The Welsh veteran is now in 18th place at 7'34". Sepp Kuss still leads Marc Soler by 26 seconds, Remco Evenepoel by 1'09" and Primoz Roglic by 1'36".

Tomorrow's stage to Zaragoza is one for the sprinters so the GC battle won't resume until Friday's mountaintop finish on the Col du Tourmalet on what is, for many, the queen stage of the race.

Evenepoel caught Carthy and Uijtdebroecks before the line but came home with Kuss in his wheel, who in turn was followed by Roglic, Soler, Mas, Vlasov, Ayuso, Almeida and Vingegaard, with Martinez a little after but in the same time - so all the top 10 present and correct. They were 5'50" down on the winner, Jesus Herrada.

As predicted, the Spaniard has pulled off a double coup by moving above Eduardo Sepulveda in the KOM standings. Herrada now has 22pts to the Argentinian's 21pts with Evenepoel in third on 20pts.

1. Jesus Herrada
2. Romain Gregoire +03
3. Andreas Kron +08
4. Jonathan Caicedo +12
5. Geraint Thomas +19
6. Pelayo Sanchez +24
7. Rudy Molard +24
8. Nicolas Prodhomme +27
9. Dorion Godon +58
10. Filippo Ganna +1:16

Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-hansgrophe) went clear with a couple of kilometres to go before Hugh Carthy (EF) managed to breakthrough the Soudal wall in the final kilometre. He was joined by Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma). But the gaps were minimal by the finish, especially after Evenepoel put in a little dig on the home straight.

It looks like Remco Evenepoel's team have called the shots in the main pack: they have four of their riders - including Evenepoel in white - on the front and across the road, a blue wall deterring any attacks.

Despite the teeing up from team-mate Ganna, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) crosses the line 19 seconds down in fifth. Romaain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny) took second and third after passing Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost).

Caicedo still leads with 300m to go but he's then passed by Herrada, Kron and Gregoire... And then Spain's Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) puts in the winning move to break his rivals and swoop to a third stage career win on the Vuelta.

Caicedo has gone clear again. Kron tries to close it down, but without success. Then Thomas - wanting to pay back Ganna for all his work - accelerates. He's closing the gap, but dragging the others back into contention on the steepest 14% ramp.

Finally someone makes a move and it's Jonathan Caicedo who is first to break down the Ganna-poly. The Italian duly drops back, his work for the day done. Caicedo is reeled in by the others - and it's now Kron, Thomas and Gregoire who are on the front.

The Italian continues dictating the tempo with Kron on his wheel... just 2km to go now.

It looks like we may not see any action in the battle for red as Soudal, UAE and Jumbo ride along together in scenes of an uphill quasi truce on the final climb.

Ganna has reduced this leading break to nine. Only Thomas, Molard, Gregoire, Kron, Caicedo, Prodhomme, Herrada and Sanchez Pelayo can keep with him for now - but we have the steep section coming up very soon.

No sooner has the lone leader passed under the 5km banner than Ganna leads the break past. The Italian has reduced this move to around 10 riders now, with his team-mate Thomas tucked in behind in around seventh place in the line. Kron, for now, is the rider on Ganna's wheel ahead of one of the Burgos men and Herrada. Carlton Kirby's bet, Godon, has been dropped. The peloton, meanwhile, is 5:55 down in an unknown nod to Charlotte Gainsbourg, perhaps.

Owsian and Touze are the first to be dropped as Ganna continues to throw down the hammer, replicating his TT form from yesterday but on a different bike and different terrain. What a machine.

Paul Ourselin holds a lead of 24 seconds as he starts the Cat.1 La Laguna Negra (6.5km at 6.8%). It starts off as a rather gentle affair but the steepest 14% ramps are near the finish. Behind, it's Andy Kron who has taken over from Ganna in pursuit.