Another overall lead change on this year's toughest day at Vuelta

After controlling the overall lead for about 110 miles on Monday's Stage 16, everything fell apart for the Liquigas cycling team and Vincenzo Nibali in the final mile.

With Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) scampering up the Alto de Corobello to erase a few seconds in his gap to the red jersey, the group of riders surrounding Nibali attacked and the Italian could not respond.

His chief rival, Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), finished 37 seconds ahead of Nibali and took the leader's red jersey with 33 seconds to spare.

Nibali drops

Although he finished in 10th place on the stage, Nibali only dropped to 2nd place in the overall competition. He'll relax during Tuesday's rest day and then try to regain the lead in Wednesday individual time trial.

Eukaltel Euskadi's Mikel Nieve won Stage 16, considered the most difficult in this year's Vuelta a Espana. It was Nieve's first-ever victory in a Grand Tour. It was a great victory for his team, considering how they lost the overall lead two days earlier when Igor Anton severely crashed near the finish and had to abandon the race.

The 112-mile course on Monday rolled over four summits, including the third mountaintop finish in three days.

Final climb

Heading up that final climb, the Alto de Cotobello, Schleck launched his second attack of the day. With visions of winning the Vuelta, he had a 2:48 deficit to make up. Tom Danielson (Garmin Transitions) joined him on the attack when Schleck only had an 10 second lead on the red jersey group.

Then Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) attacked, caught up to Schleck and Danielson and tried to ride away from them. Schleck responded, but Danielson couldn't. Schleck kept riding hard as Sastre faded, and the Luxembourg cyclist passed all the riders surviving the breakaway except for Nieve, who finished a full minute before anyone else.

For all his efforts, Schleck climbed from 7th place (2:48 behind the leader) to 4th place (2:16 behind). Danielson also picked up one place in the General Classification, now holding 7th place (4:29 behind the leader), although he lost some time.

Wednesday's Stage 17 is a 28.5-mile individual time trial in Peñafiel.

Top 10 after Stage 16

1. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha)

2. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas)

3. Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia)

4. Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank)

5. Nicolas Roche (AG2R)

6. Peter Velits (HTC Columbia)

7. Tom Danielson (Garmin Transitions)

8. Xavier Tondo (Cervelo)

9. Carlos Sastre (Cervelo)

10. David Garcia (Xacobeo Galicia)