Russian Denis Menchov of the Rabobank squad took the overall lead of the Tour of Spain after finishing second to Italian Leonardo Piepoli on today's mountainous ninth stage.
The pair went clear 7km from the summit finish at Cerler. Overnight leader Stijn Devolder of Belgium suffered badly on the stage and lost around four minutes on Piepoli and Menchov.
'I'm confident but there's a long way to go to Madrid, this is only the second mountain stage of the Vuelta,' said Menchov, Tour of Spain champion in 2005.
The Tour of Spain finishes on 23 September in Madrid.
