Mikel Nieve climbed to eighth place on a tough stage 15 summit finish at the Vuelta a Espana to remain firmly in the general classification mix.

Cheered on by passionate fans the Basque rider ascended the Sotres climb in a much reduced lead group and even put in a burst of acceleration with two kilometres to go.

Hanging on for eighth, 24 seconds back on stage winner Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Nieve remains well-placed heading into the final week of racing.

With the steep final ramps seemingly tailor-made for Rodriguez, the Spaniard moved to within one second of the race lead as Fabio Aru (Astana) clung onto the jersey in Cabrales.

Third place on the stage for Dani Moreno (Katusha) saw him leapfrog Nieve on the GC, with the Team Sky rider now sitting seventh overall, 2:19 back on Aru.

Also finishing impressively were Team Sky duo Sergio Henao and Ian Boswell, with the pair riding in the front group for much of the 12.7km final ascent before crossing the line 16th and 17th respectively.

Ultimately finishing level with Movistar, that enabled the team to maintain their advantage of 10:56 on the team classification.

"It's another day down and we're still up there leading the team GC," said Sports Director Dario Cioni.

"Mikel lost a place at the end but it's still very open overall. Certainly tomorrow and the time trial will be very key stages. We'll see where we stack up on tomorrow's summit finish.

"The guys are feeling good. They are certainly feeling tired but that is the same for everyone. We have a hard stage to get through tomorrow and then we're on the run for home. There's also the rest day on Tuesday which will be nice ahead of the time trial."