Alejandro Valverde Gets Gold in Stage Nine; Cadel Evans Gets Pinched

Stage Nine ended with a bit of controversy today as Alejandro Valverde wound up bumping Cadel Evans from the golden jersey. Evans was visibly upset at the end as he wound up getting pinched by Robobank's Robert Gesink on the last right-hand turn and Evans couldn't recover in time. Because of the allotted time bonuses for finishing first, second or third, Valverde wound up in gold at the end of the day.

There was an early breakaway and Gustavo Cesar Veloso wound up taking the stage. He held on for much of the stage. But the bigger story was Evans and how he was barking at other riders as they crossed the finish line.

The top six riders in the overall general classifications are essentially separated by about a minute. Evans sits second now, only six seconds behind Valverde.

The Vuelta goes back to a more flat stage tomorrow with really only one climb towards the end, so it should be another good day for the sprinters. We'll see if Evans goes out of his way to try and get back in gold again.