Welcome to stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana. Today's stage will take the riders 187.1km towards Orihuela through Alicante. The only climb of note is the category 3 Alto de Hondon 60km from the finish.

Overall standings: 1 GILBERT, Philippe (OmegaPharma - Lotto) 27h 12' 38''; 2 ANTON HERNANDEZ, Igor (Euskaltel - Euskadi) + 10"; 3 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (Katusha) +10"; 4 NIBALI, Vincenzo (Liquigas - Doimo)+ 12"; 5 VELITS, Peter (HTC - Columbia) + 16"; 6 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (HTC - Columbia) + 29"; 7 TONDO VOLPINI, Xavier (Cervélo Test Team) + 49"; 8 SCHLECK, Fränk (Saxo Bank) + 50"; 9 PLAZA MOLINA, Ruben (Caisse d'Epargne) + 54"; 10 MOSQUERA MIGUEZ, Ezequiel (Xacobeo - Galicia) + 55"

Provisional results: 1 PETACCHI, Alessandro (Lampre - Farnese Vini) 4h 35' 52"; 2 CAVENDISH, Mark (HTC - Columbia); 3 HAEDO, Juan Jose (Saxo Bank); 4 STAUFF, Andreas (Quick Step); 5 FARRAR, Tyler (Garmin - Transitions); 6 GALIMZYANOV, Denis (Katusha); 7 FÖRSTER, Robert (Milram); 8 HINAULT, Sébastien (Ag2r - La Mondiale); 9 BENNATI, Daniele (Liquigas - Doimo); 10 WEYLANDT, Wouter (Quick Step)

Philippe Gilbert retains the leader's red jersey ahead of Igor Anton and Joaquin Rodriguez.

Alessandro Pettachi (Lampre) attacks first and gets the stage win!! Mark Cavendish (HTC-Colombia)tries to follow him from 200 metres out but gets squeezed into second with Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) third. Lampre did a great job to lead out the Italian.

It's a long straight-ish finish with two roundabouts to get around. This could get tricky.

This is it then...HTC have fallen away for no real reason - maybe they couldn't get Cavendish close enough?

The peoloton is extremely strung out. HTC head the field. Cavendish is further behind but looks to be in good touch. Quick Step now hit the front. Cavendish could miss out here.

The sprinter's teams now begin to position themselves for the finish. No sign of the Manx Missile yet...nope, there is Mark Cavendish looking smooth.

Jorge Martin Montenegro (Andalucia-Cajasur), Martin Pedersen (Footon-Servetto), Dominik Roels (Team Milram) and Vladimir Isaichev (Xacobeo Galicia) are about to file back into the main field. Here we go then...

Just 26s now. This breakaway has been epic but isn't it always the way that it never quite gets enough of a lead? Should be a fascinating finish.

39s is the gap. The peloton are flying. Up front the four breakaway riders have accepted their fate and begin to sit up in their saddles. It'll go down to the sprinters again.

Well, they tried. My goodness they tried but Jorge Martin Montenegro (Andalucia-Cajasur), Martin Pedersen (Footon-Servetto), Dominik Roels (Team Milram) and Vladimir Isaichev (Xacobeo Galicia) are about to be swallowed up after a massive effort out in front. The gap is just 43s. /// "1km every 60 seconds......are you drunk? I think you­ mean one minute every 10km" says mathew.barkerquick. Quite right Mathew. I knew it as soon as I typed it!

Jorge Martin Montenegro (Andalucia-Cajasur), Martin Pedersen (Footon-Servetto), Dominik Roels (Team Milram) and Vladimir Isaichev (Xacobeo Galicia) still lead after 172km out in front. The lead to the main field is 1m 14s. /// "it will be a massive sprint today. Cavendish will­ make'it today..." says Dan Craiciu

The gap is down to 1m 40s. It might look like a good lead but I fear the breakaway is will be about 30 seconds shy of staying away. But at the front the four riders continue to plug away. They haven't given it up yet.

The common theory is a peloton can claw back ten kilometres every 60 seconds over a breakaway. If that's a theory we're about to see the practice.

It's getting interesting now. Lampre sit on the front of the peloton and the gap is 2m. This breakaway should have been cleaned up by now but maybe the big boys are simply waiting for the moment to strike.

The main field definitely have the hammer down now. The breakaway stands at 2m 17s /// "how do you ask the commentators questions?" says Alberto. If you're referring to our colleagues at British Eurosport TV then Twitter is the best bet. If you mean online, then fire away.

The breakaway continues on. The lead is now around 2m 47s. Not sure if they know the pack is coming but it it will be a great finish if they are able to put in one last shift. That's the four hour mark in the saddle too.

The lead for the breakaway now stands at 3m 31s. With less than 40km to go the pack will have to use up a lot of energy to bring everyone back together for a bunch sprint.

The breakaway now have a lead of 3m 43s. The main field have got out of the cross-wind and are getting organised again. It's a long, long line that is aiming to reel in the front four. Lampre take charge.