Stage six of the Vuelta a España proved another quiet one for Team Sky as Thor Hushovd (Cervélo) sprinted to victory ahead of Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) and Grega Bole (Lampre).

The seven remaining riders used the stage to step up their recovery from the bug which swept through the team during the opening days of the competition, with Lars-Petter Nordhaug leading the squad home two minutes and nine seconds off the pace in 92nd position.

Hushovd though, secured his triumph by positioning himself towards the front as Philippe Gilbert led out a lively finish in Murcia, and as the Belgian swung over to the right of the road, the Norwegian maintained his line and kicked on powerfully to secure a comfortable win.

Gilbert meanwhile, ended the day in sixth position and that result ensured he stayed 10 seconds ahead of Igor Antón (Euskaltel) and Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) in the overall standings.

Most of the 151km trek from Caravaca de la Cruz had been a relatively straightforward affair with Freddy Bichot (Bbox - Bouygues), Markus Eichler (Milram) and Javier Estrada (Andalucía) forming the day's main breakaway soon after the race commissioner had lowered his start flag.

That trio had built a lead of over nine minutes at one point, but their advantage had dropped back to just 45 seconds by the time they hit the sole category-2 climb of the day, 20km from the finish line.

Bichot was the last man to be hauled back as they neared the top of that summit, and on the descent which followed Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana) and Carlos Barredo (Quick-Step) also made determined bids for victory.

Those attempts ultimately proved fruitless however, and a group of 65 riders remained as they continued on to the destination town.

Gilbert was clearly feeling fresh and was flung into contention by his Omega Pharma - Lotto team-mates in the dying stages, but the 28-year-old's kick was no match for the sprint specialists, and it was Hushovd (Cervélo) who emerged from the mêlée to wrap up his triumph by over half a bike length.

Flecha struggling

Although sports director Marcus Ljungqvist was encouraged to see his full complement of riders make it through the stage, he admitted Juan Antonio Flecha had found things particularly difficult and that he would be assessed by the team's medical staff before the start of Friday's 187.1km stage between Murcia and Orihuela.

The Swede told us: "Flecha is definitely not 100% right now. He had a bad stomach this morning and things haven't improved a great deal as the day has worn on. He's battled on to the finish though and hopefully he'll be fit enough to continue tomorrow.

"On a brighter note, the rest of the guys are looking better and better and taking things relatively easy today will hopefully have helped them beat this bug. We still need a few more days to get properly on top of things, but hopefully we'll be OK before the really big climbs come next week.

"As for tomorrow's stage, that should be another one for the sprinters and we'll just have to see how the guys are feeling before we decide what action to take in that."