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Dutchman Robert Gesink's chances of a podium place in the Vuelta evaporated on Friday thanks to a hole in his knee almost as big as the one that sunk the Titanic.

Gesink had already displayed extraordinary bravery and grit to protect his second place after his heavy crash in Wednesday's stage 17.

But the race's final first category climb, the Puerto de Navecerrada, proved a task too hard for The Condor of Varsseveld.

(Incidentally, football coach Guus Hiddink is another alumni of Varsseveld, whose town dwellers' surnames appear to boast more ink than an Octopus holding a Parker fountain pen with each of its eight tentacles.)

Finishing 4:44 down on stage winner Juan Jose Cobo, Gesink dropped to sixth place in the GC, more than 5:30 down on leader Alejandro Valverde.

For those who saw the blood flow from his knee like a waterfall on Wednesday - or for those who saw the far grislier picture of the deep wound posted on the rangy Dutchman's Twitter feed - his demise was hardly unexpected.

In fact, what is incredible about the whole thing is that the 23-year-old all-rounder not only remains in the race but lost so little time.

Only riders like Alexandre Vinokourov can recover from such horrific knee gashes so quickly - and we all know how he used to compensate for chronic blood loss (just put a load back in).

So, with effectively one day left to race, it looks like Valverde is not only going to finish a three-week race but - blimey - he might even win it.

Barring a time trial of Michael Rasmussen-esque slapdash incompetence, the Spaniard will soon actually merit his nickname of The Unbeatable.

And it will be further egg on the face of Blazin' Saddles, who previously predicted podium places for Evans and Kreuziger in the Tour and the Vuelta respectively.

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In other news, Garmin-Slipstream boss Jonathan Vaughters has categorically denied that Brit ace Bradley Wiggins will pedal for Team Sky next year following an article in the Daily Mail.

The fact that the Mail referred to Wiggins's current team as "Garmin Chipotle" goes quite a way to undermine the credibility of the story, however. Lest we forget, this is the same paper that came out with discrete stories that coffee both caused and cured cancer in the space of a month.

Anyway, Vaughters has since poured cold water on the rumour by saying: "Bradley Wiggins is under contract for 2010... that's the end of it."

Whether or not the "it" whose end he referred to was Wiggo's contract remains a mystery and probably hinges on whether or not Astana will allow want-away Garmin target Alberto Contador out of the final year of his own agreement.

The prospect of riding a whole season alongside Vinokourov and a bunch of Kazakhs - including, in all likelihood, Andrey Kashechkin - is clearly a worrying one for Contador.

Firstly it would do his pristine image no good, but most importantly he would have a team weaker than that of Cadel Evans at Silence-Lotto.

Doing his best Emmanuel Adebayor impression, the under-contract rider said: "Garmin-Slipstream are a very interesting squad who did a great Tour, Caisse D'Epargne are one of the strongest teams out there and then there's Quick Step as well. There's even the possibility of me forming my own team."

Contador didn't add: "I'm like a boy being told Lily Allen, Little Boots and Lady Gaga are all looking for him."

Follow Blazin' Saddles throughout the day on www.twitter.com/saddleblaze

STAGE 20 LIVE at 3pm on Friday on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe.

Felix Lowe / Eurosport