Alejandro Valverde finished in 6th place, 15 seconds behind the day's winner Joaquím Rodríguez (KAT), whose attack with 900m remaining launched him into the stage victory. Valverde remains 3rd overall going into tomorrow’s penultimate and all-decisive stage.

The Movistar Team tried once again to fight on all fronts, entering the day's big, early break of 20 riders with Beñat Intxausti and trying to counter the late moves at the non-rated climb of Padrún, just over 20km from the finish, with José Herrada. The Cuenca-based rider reached the front and later responded to another move from José Mendes (TNE) on the slopes of the Naranco, to be eventually caught one kilometre from the top.

Rodríguez's victory takes him closer to Valverde's 3rd place overall, before the stage that will decide Sunday's podium in Madrid: 142km between Avilés and the Alto de L’Angliru (HC), with the previous climbs of Cabruñana (Cat-3), Tenebredo (Cat-2) and Cordal (Cat-1).

“You always want to win, but there isn't much energy left into the tank,” Valverde explained. “Purito played his cards really well, and when he jumped, all the rivals looked at me and put all pressure on me to chase and I couldn't do much more. We have gone through very hard days in this Vuelta, always full gas - we're feeling quite tired at the moment. There's only one decisive day left before we get to Madrid. Angliru is a demanding climb where the only strategy is setting your own pace and forgetting about your rivals. Tomorrow's weather won't be what I'd have liked, but we will do the best we can. Horner is looking really strong and will be the big favourite tomorrow; despite being a short gap, Nibali lost some more terrain on us two and Purito - that makes me consider Horner the strongest."