Nicolas Roche sprinted to third place from the breakaway on stage 13 at the Vuelta a Espana.

Joined by team-mate Sergio Henao in an expansive 24-rider move, the Team Sky duo were in a good position heading over the day's final climb but were forced to watch the stage win ride away up the road.

Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida) made a long-range attack stick following the third-category Alto de Moncayo, carving out an advantage of one minute which he held to the finish in Tarazona.

Roche had pushed hard on the climb but after his select group was chased down, the Irishman opened up the sprint from the pack behind and held on for a rostrum finish, with Henao also crossing the line on the same time in the group.

That significantly bolstered Team Sky's team classification lead, pushing the advantage over second-placed Astana to 11 minutes and 21 seconds.

Back in the pack Team Sky patrolled the front during the final run-in, ensuring Mikel Nieve was well-placed and out of trouble as the peloton rolled in 4:48 back.

That ensured the Basque rider solidified his eighth place overall, 1:58 back on race leader Fabio Aru (Astana).

After the stage Roche talked TeamSky.com through the breakaway tactics, Oliveira's late attack and how he is feeling after crashes earlier in the race.

He explained: "It was quite a fight to get into the move and the break went after little over an hour of hard riding. I wasn't very active initially as I punctured after about 10 or 15km. It took me quite a long time to get back to the bunch.

"It was still a very tough day. I started on the wrong foot and it took a while to get back in the group and as the race went on it was important to go and give a hand and follow the riders in the group. The team was really looking forward and pushing to be in the break. We were three in it at one stage.

"Once I got back I'd been fighting for quite a while. Even though I didn't feel quite so fresh at the start of the day I thought it would be good to give the guys a hand and try to get in the break. That's what happened. We were on the long climb and a couple of groups drove along. I followed and all of a sudden we were at the front.

"It was difficult for [Oliveira] to stay away with that wind and that many riders chasing behind. Initially the wind was favourable but fair play to him. We did a lot of attacking on the climb and there were four or five of us who were away for quite a bit. We were caught just before the descent. He went alone and opened up the gap. He was extremely strong as there were attacks for a long time.

"After putting in that effort on the climb eventually I thought I'd concentrate on sitting back in case everything came back together. At the finish Sergio gave me a hand heading into the finish. I went early in the sprint and it worked out all right.

"I tried to put a bit of pressure in the climbs to give it a go and in the end Sergio led me out to try and go for a sprint."

After a pair of crashes dropped Roche out of an impressive GC position, a strong day out demonstrated the Irishman is recovering well.

"Today was much better, especially towards the finish. This morning at the start I really didn't feel that I was pedalling very round. As the stage went on my back started to loosen up. It's been four days now so luckily I seem to have moved on. Yesterday, even though it was a much easier day, I struggled. It was the effects of both going deep the previous day, plus the crash, meant that yesterday was particularly difficult. Today was a bit better." 

The 13th stage always looked likely to suit a breakaway and that was reflected by a rapid start out of Calatayud with a host of failed attacks.

Roche and Henao were eventually able to force their way into a move, but with a couple of potential GC threats among their ranks, Astana were not keen on giving the break a big advantage.

Attacks were inevitable on the final climb but no rider was able to drive home a definitive advantage initially. Roche attacked and was second wheel over the top of the Alto de Moncayo but there was no catching Oliveira, who hit out early with 27km to go.