Herrada wins Vuelta stage 11, Kuss retains overall lead

Spain's Jesus Herrada won stage 11 of La Vuelta a Espana after a gruelling finish on the final climb up Laguna Negra in Vinuesa, northern Spain.

The 33-year-old Cofidis rider timed his final push to perfection to finish three seconds ahead of France's Romain Gregoire (Groupama), with Dane Andreas Lorentz Kron (Lotto DSTNY) a further five seconds behind in third.

Geraint Thomas enjoyed a better day after crashes on stage two and seven as he made up time on the general classification leaders with a fifth-placed finish, 19 seconds behind Herrada.

American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) remains the overall leader after maintaining his 26-second overnight lead over Spain's Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates).

Belgium's Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Slovenia's Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) remain third and fourth respectively, with the latter one minute and 36 seconds behind Kuss.

Herrada, Gregoire and Thomas were all part of a 26-man breakaway that had opened up a gap of six minutes ahead of the final climb to the finish.

Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies) broke clear of the leading bunch and led by 25 seconds at the bottom of Laguna Negra, but he was caught with five kilometres to go.

Thomas then reacted well to cover two attacks by Jonathan Caicedo and the Ecuadorian was caught with 300m to go, but Herrada emerged strongest in the climb up to the finish.

Stage 12 on Thursday is a flat 151km course from Olvega to Zaragoza.