Spanish rider Carlos Castaño gave his Kaiku team sweet revenge for being left out of this year’s Vuelta a España with an impressive win in Thursday’s 225km “queen stage” in the Volta a Catalunya.

Kaiku was overlooked for a wild-card spot to join this year’s Vuelta and the team’s been simmering ever since. Castaño poured that frustration into his pedals to reel in the attacking Christophe Moreau (Ag2r) on the final climb to Arcalis to win and snatch the overall lead.

“I was just thinking about winning the stage, so to take the leader’s jersey is a double bonus for the team,” Castaño said. “We’re a small team, but I don’t believe in the ‘super leagues’ of cycling. It’s not like football. Even for a small team like ours can end up on top.”

Taking fourth at 2:12 was Ryder Hesjedal (Phonak), a strong result that pushed him into fourth overall at 1:51 back. Hesjedal, who already has 35 days of racing in his legs after a busy spring that included the northern classics, will be racing next at the Dauphine Libere where he'll be helping team captain Floyd Landis. Christian Vande Velde (CSC), 24th at 4:05 back, was hoping for more but came down with a stomach bug two days ago and was a little less than 100 percent in the demanding climbing stage. Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), who is also set to race Dauphine Libere next month, finished 30th at 4:32 back, while Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) rode up with the gruppetto to save his strength for a stage more fitting to his sprinter legs.

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to begin, with Moreau following Iñigo Landaluze (Euskaltel), Ricardo Serrano (Kaiku) and Remy di Gregioro (FDJeux) who chugged away just 9km into the day’s race.

The peloton was firmly in siesta mode (perhaps from celebrating FC Barcelona’s win in the Champions League final Wednesday night) and the break held a huge lead of 23 minutes over early climbs.

Once the route hit the final climb up to the Vallnord ski area in Andorra, only Moreau remained at the front as attacks began in earnest from the front bunch. Castaño made an aggressive move with 15km to go. David de la Fuente (Saunier Duval) tried to follow, but without luck.

Castaño caught the exasperated Moreau, who came through second at 52 seconds back. Santiago Botero (Phonak) showed signs of life to finish third at 1:53 back. The Kaiku man now leads Botero 1:18 and Moreau by 1:24.

“I’m not a pure climber, but I am learning, and today I felt strong so I went for the stage. I think I can win the race now, if nothing unexpected happens,” he said. “If we can hang on to win, this would be the most important of the year because we’re not invited to the Vuelta.”

The race continues Friday with the hilly 161.5km march from Llivia to Manlieu.