A quiet week followed for the squad, before Valls made it into the breakaway on stage 13, as the race headed into Austria to the finish on the Grossglockner. Valls was one of 16 riders to venture out front, but did not last in the breakaway, and ultimately lost almost 19 minutes to stage-winner José Rujano of Androni Giocattoli by the end of the stage. Menchov finished 1' 36 down on Rujano in tenth place, and moved into eleventh place in the general classification, already over five minutes down on Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-SunGard). Menchov again featured highly the following day, on stage 14 and its finish atop Monte Zoncolan. He was part of a group consisting of himself, Astana's Roman Kreuziger, Liquigas-Cannondale rider Vincenzo Nibali and several other riders. Menchov and Nibali both got away from Kreuziger, but Nibali himself attacked Menchov and went clear. Menchov eventually finished the stage in fifth place, losing another 48 seconds to Contador, who was second to Euskaltel-Euskadi's Igor Antón; Menchov's placing allowed him to move up to seventh overall.