Nicolas Roche showed his determination to take a spectacular victory from the breakaway on stage 18 at the Vuelta a Espana. The Irishman proved strongest of a 25-man group as he saw off Haimar Zubeldia in a two-up sprint into Riaza, taking the second Vuelta stage win of his career.

With the general classification contenders firing huge shots at one another behind, Roche knew he had to push on as the break saw their advantage slashed on the final climb of the Puerto de la Quesera. When it came to the sprint Roche was confident enough to lead it out and didn't allow Zubeldia (Trek Factory Racing) the chance to come around him.

In the pack behind Mikel Nieve was able to mix it up as the lead group were whittled down to a select group of contenders. Attacks flew over the final climb and Nieve was able to put in a few digs of his own as he held on to his ninth place overall.

The battle for the red jersey saw Fabio Aru (Astana) try to put leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) under pressure in a bid to overturn a three-second deficit. Dumoulin was equal to the task on the climb and the GC contenders all finished in a group, 38 seconds back on a victorious Roche.

Explaining a frenetic finish, Roche told Eurosport: "There was a rider 20 seconds behind and when we saw that I just said 'let's just ride to the finish and we'll do a mano a mano sprint'. It was actually really good and we co-operated well since the 15km to go sign. I think that was our only chance.

"Coming into the sprint I wanted to lead it out. Haimar is someone who has got a lot of experience and I've lost a few sprints against him in the past, in [Clasica] San Sebastian for example. I didn't want to have a slow-start sprint, I wanted to have a really high speed one.

"I thought I'd try and manage my own pace. I smiled because I was happy that it worked. I thought 'yes, for once I didn't mess up'. I've had a few second and third places and I've always lacked that little small bit at the finish. Today it finally worked out.

"When he caught me we agreed that if we wanted to make it we had to work together. I was expecting he would try to attack with three or four kilometres to go, but we shared the load to get to the finish we had information that there was (Goncalves) 15 seconds behind. There was no time to mess around.

"Coming into the last sprint… Haimar is someone who has a lot of experience, I’ve lost a few sprints against him in San Sebastian and other races over the years and even though I’m supposed to be quicker on paper, I thought I might as well control the sprint and keep it a high speed rather than do a start-stop sprint.

"I’m pretty sure I already have a message from Froome by now. We’ve had a great relationship over the years. I really gave 100 per cent this year and ever since we rode together I think he was very supportive of me here, attacking and trying things. I thanked him for letting me attack on the first day and he knew I was in a good shape. It’s really great to be able to make the most of it actually because I don’t have a lot of opportunities. I tried on the first week and the second week happened… It took me a few days to recover. Luckily enough the team gave me a day off yesterday with the time trial.

"I’m welcoming the end of the season but I also said that there were still four stages to fight for and the team had in mind to fight for it. We did say we were going to focus on stages and try to help as much as possible Nieve to defend his 8th or 9th place and maybe help move him up (in GC). Today the team was very active to go in the breakaway. It was quite difficult because it’s pretty clear that ourselves and Movistar are playing for the team GC and the break is  not going to go until there is one of each.

"We’ve had a few days of misfortune, it was a big blow losing Chris, it was also tough for me to drop out of the GC and to go through three or four days of pain with my hip but we also had some good days. Mikel has done some excellent climbing, we’ve had Boswell finishing third in Andorra, Puccio was also second in a mountain stage, there was a lot of active riding and being aggressive. It was good to see more aggressive racing from Team Sky on the Vuelta. It wasn’t the Vuelta everyone thought of when we arrived but it’s definitely not a bad Vuelta.

"I came to Team Sky with a role, I was there to give support to Porte in the first part of the year then I had to focus on Chris on the second part and then to have a little bit more of freedom around the Vuelta. We’ve won a lot of races this year, it was great to be part of it. A lot of pressure, different pressure, different roles, there was something that I enjoyed."

Team Principal Dave Brailsford was full of praise for Roche after the stage following a much-deserved stage win.

"It was a really good day," he said. "Nico managed the period between the end of the Tour [de France] and start of the Vuelta very well and he came here looking to ride for the GC. He started off fantastically well but then he had his crash which took him out of the overall contention. It was a tough couple of days for him after that, but he's bounced back.

"I don't think he was thinking about the win this morning, but we wanted somebody in the breakaway for the team GC and he did a fantastic job. I'm super happy for him, he's a really nice guy, very popular and very well liked, and for him to win a Grand Tour stage for Team Sky is brilliant.

"Mikel's ridden really well here. He's shown again that he's in good shape and he's a really important member of our team. When he gets a chance, he'll take it, but he's the first one to commit to his team-mates when he needs to as well.

"Nicolas came here well prepared, he worked a lot this year. After his crash it was over for him in the GC but he’s recovered well and everybody is happy for him, he’s a super lad. Mikel also rode well.

"We now have won stages in the three grand tours this season, something we didn’t achieve in 2014. When you’re near the end of a grand tour, especially after riding the Tour de France, the challenge is more mental than physical. Today he made everyone happy."

Nieve was also happy to come through the stage without issue and retain his foothold in the top 10.

"The goal for today was to be in the breakaway and to win if we could," he told Eurosport."That's exactly what we managed to do. The Vuelta has been so strong this year and there have been so many crashes. With this victory we are happy at Team Sky. We've had to fight a lot in this race.

"The last climb wasn't so hard for me. It was hard to find gaps out there but we still have the stage win which is great. Tomorrow it will be hard but a relatively normal stage. It's a rolling parcours and we'll give it our best shot."