What a climax to the Vuelta. A stunning, emotional victory for young Kenny Elissonde to provide another French stage winner and another shock - a 599/1 shock at that! A battle royale between Nibali and Horner all the way up Angrilu made it one of the most exciting finishes to a Grand Tour in many, many years.
And so it comes down to the Angliru as people thought it might. But I can't believe many cycling fans out there would have believed that going in to the penultimate and deciding stage Chris Horner would be holding a 3 second lead over pre-race favourite Vincenzo Nibali
3 seconds. It takes me longer to pronounce Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg's name, yet that is all that now separates Nibali from second placed Chris Horner after yet another dramatic finale on the climb up to Peña Cabarga.
Well what an incredible surprise at the end of today's stage. Bauke Mollema shot off the front with 700m to go, surprising the sprinters who looked at each other waiting for someone to take up the chase. He put his head down and comfortably won to land my biggest winner in a long time at 129/1!
Move over Thibout Pinot, France has a new great hope. Another stunning ride from 21-year old Warren Barguil of Argos-Shimano today as he first outfoxed his break-away companions to jump clear and then out-foxed Rigoberto Uran in a two-man sprint finish.
A less dramatic day weather wise, but it still took it's toll on the Vuelta, with a whole host of riders climbing off or indeed not even starting. There were only 159 riders started this morning and another 9 climbed off today, including Gilbert, Martin, Stybar and Baden Cooke.
A dramatic day in the cold and rain saw Daniele Ratto solo to a brilliant stage win after getting away from the break of the day on one of the many treacherous descents. But the day was packed with drama, incident and accidents which saw no fewer than 14 riders abandon
I didn't get to see today's stage, work got in the way, but Warren Barguil showed why he is one of the most highly rated of the up and coming riders in the peloton to steal the stage with guts, guil and power. He jumped away from the remains of the break of the day with 1km to go and held off a late surge from Mollema and Nocentini.
I'm pretty annoyed with how it all turned out today. First of all I think I am just going to give up on trying to pick the winners of these 'sprint' stages as they are not normal sprint finishes, but utter chaos. No team takes control and it's a free for all.
What was the ride of the day for you in today's time trial? There were plenty to pick from to be fair. Cancellara obviously was sublime, blowing away the opposition and the notions that he would be either tired or taking it easy.
What an incredible story today. It looked it was the end of a cycling legend but then something happens that leaves fans stunned, amazed and delighted in equal measure. No I am not talking about THAT ride from 42 year old Chris Horner but the news about Fernando Alonso and Eukaltel-Euskadi.
A good winning bet for me today with my headline call Daniel Moreno winning it like I called it, pocketing some nice 7/2 and 4/1 bets on him. In fact, my preview almost landed a 1-2-3 as I called Rodriguez a top 3 finisher and said Roche could well be up there too - only Valverde got in the way!
Nicholas Roche rode his socks off today to take the Red Jersey after a dramatic climb up the Alto de Peñas Blancas, riding away with Basso, Pinot, Konig, Moreno and De Clerq. He took 3rd on the stage to land our 20/1 each way recommendation to cap the day off.
What is it going to take for Gilbert to win a race this year?! He did everything right by attacking with 7km to go, only problem was he brought Zdenek Stybar with him, a rider in supreme form and full of confidence following his performance in the Eneco Tour.
Sometimes you have a bet and it looks like it is going to lose and you don't really mind. Roche winning Sunday to deny me a very nice payout on Moreno at 30/1 for example. Today was looking like it could have been one of those days as Tony Martin entered the final kilometre and every cycling fan in the world must have been hoping he'd hang on.
Michael Matthew proved that he is the strongest, fastest and smartest sprinter in the bunch today, cosily taking the sprint after jumping with about 200m to go and holding off Richeze and Meersman quite comfortably, rewarding some good team-work by Orica Green-edge to pull back the break of the day.
Two days after I picked him to win stage 2 Daniel Moreno only goes and wins today's stage in superb style skipping away from the pack in the last kilometer and hanging on from an impressive looking Fabian Cancellara who took second.
I won't even begin to try to describe everything that happened today, as firstly, I spent most of the day in the car drving back from Ireland and secondly, even if I had watched everything I don't think I have the time or the space to describe everything that happened!
I was faced with a dilemma of emotions today in the final 2kms as my 33/1 tip Daniel Moreno took off up the road, only to be followed by Nico Roche. I found myself shouting for both of them for different reasons, I was desperate for Roche to win, but had a profit in the hundreds riding on Moreno!
What a storming start to the Vuelta for Astana and Nibali, roaring to a 10 second victory over a Cancellara-led Radioshack Leopard-Trek in second and the pre-race favourites Omega Pharma Quick Step. Janez Brajkovic wears the leaders red jersey going in to stage 2 after crossing the line first of the Astana riders left at the finish.
The Vuelta organisers have certainly found a novel way to start the 2013 race, with a Team Trial Time starting off from a 'Balea' or a floating wooden pontoon traditionally used for shellfish farming in the Galicia region.
I have tried to look around some of the other markets for bets that interest me, and have outlined some of the better ones below. Stay tuned for in-play analysis and betting tips though as the race progresses.
The battle for the Red jersey is going to be hard to call this year, I have given my thoughts on that in my race preview. As for the other jerseys, they look equally difficult to call with no clear favourites and surprise names in what should be the 'sprinters' competition!
This year's Vuelta looks like being one of the most open stage races of the year, if not many years, with no clear favourite currently dominating at the top of the betting like Froome did at the Tour and Wiggins was at the Giro.
