Tom Danielson came into the Vuelta with big ambitions, but he struggled a little in the first week, unable to find his potent pedal stroke in the mountains, and losing time to his rivals on terrain where he usually excels. He persisted, kept his head together, and today he achieved a big objective with an impressive stage victory on one of the Vuelta's toughest days.

Two days ago, on the rest day, we rode the first climb of today's stage: a 17-kilometer ascent from the coast to an altitude of 1300 meters (4265 feet). As we climbed the mountains in training one thought persisted-if the break hasn't gone by the climb, or if we have to chase it will be a brutal start to a long hard day.

My nightmare came true and after only having one rider represented in a group of 30, three of us were required to close the gap. By the time we hit the climb the peloton was splintering and after about six kilometers of climbing the peloton was in pieces. The three of us, Benoit, Jurgen and me, that had pulled had a good view as we were at the back as soon as the attacks started and riders tried to bridge the small gap across to the breakaway. It was a vicious start to a long day and on a wide open long climb in the wind there is little place to hide. Several riders didn't even make it 30km into the race and they pulled over and climbed in their team cars.

Thankfully, our plan worked, some of the group came back, Egoi snagged the mountain points at the top which put him in the jersey and Tom followed attacks and attacked until he got away in a group of six.

In the team meeting this morning, Tom asked if he could go on the attack if the situation was right. Johan nodded and said, "yeah, sure” and then later said, “Man, it has been a long time since a rider has asked to go on the attack in the mountains in the last week of a grand tour."

To attack on a big mountain day you need good legs, and to want to attack you need good legs and a lot of morale.

In the third week of a race most riders are tired from the accumulated efforts and the general stress of the race and most are just looking forward to getting back home with their families. Everybody's fuse seems to be a little shorter and riders get more aggravated with each other, especially when they are suffering.

Four of us, Janez, Jurgen, Benoit, and me, spent a good portion of the day in the grupetto after we killed ourselves chasing. We were in good company in the grupetto as it was essentially half of the peloton with around 65 riders. We were, however, not that welcome in the grupetto as we had been the cause of the chaos on the climb, and the reason so many riders were so quickly dropped.

Once the grupetto has formed everybody looks out for each other and makes sure it stays together and compact; strength in numbers. The only goal is to make it to the finish line within the time limit so everybody, no matter which team they ride for cooperates. Team cars, regardless of their affiliation, will service any rider in need and there seems to be a mutual agreement that they help out any rider in difficulty as much as they can.

Janez has run out of fuel and, today, was back with grupetto; this was somewhat expected as he is riding in his first grand tour at the young age of 22. He is still in great spirits despite his aching legs and he has accomplished more than most other riders in the peloton. With a couple gold jerseys in his suitcase he can go home very proud. Tomorrow we have another day in the mountains; although, the stage is fairly straight-forward as it simply is a rolling day that finishes on steep 5 km ascent. As Valverde has lost the jersey there will surely be a barrage of attacks from the start as his team will want to put as much pressure as possible on Vino's - the new leader by a slim nine seconds - Astana team.

The stage finishes just outside of Triki's hometown of Jaen and close to his family's olive groves. He is holding his position in the top ten and is hoping for a good ride tomorrow. If Tom didn't hurt himself too badly today, the stage tomorrow suits him very well as he excels on very steep gradients - there are sections of the climb that are 15 percent - and he will try to continue to chip away at his deficit in the overall.

We are now just a stone's throw from the finish in Madrid yet we still have a few good hours of suffering to go. Hopefully, those hours of suffering will turn out to be fruitful in the end.