Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) continued to slug it out at the Vuelta a Espana, with the two attacking each other and distancing their rivals on the short but steep finish to Pena Cabarga overlooking the northern Cantabria coastline.
Froome managed to kick away and win the stage, just as he did in his break through season back in 2011 but Quintana kept the leader's red jersey and indicated that he is ready to take on Froome whenever the road heads into the mountains.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished third, just six seconds back, with Leopold Konig (Team Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) in the same time. Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), who tried to revive his overall chances with a solo attack in the final two kilometres, finished eighth at 19 seconds. Thanks to the time bonuses awarded at the finish, Froome moved up to just 54 seconds back on Quintana, with Valverde third overall at 1:05. Chaves is fourth at 2:34 and Contador is fifth at 3:06.
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Froome punched the air as he crossed the finish line, happy to win again on the terrible Pena Cabarga climb and happy to be in contention to become only the third rider to win the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same season after Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault.
"I've got some special memories from 2011 here. To add to that here is an incredible feeling," Froome said.
"Quintana is really strong at the moment. He has the leader's jersey and I'm just trying to do as much as I can day by day to get closer to him. I want as much time as I can get, he wants as much time as he can get and that makes the race exciting."
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