Stage 15

The road

How it was won

1. 161 km to go

   Fifty kilometres before anyone was allowed away

   Nine riders finally get the nod after almost fifty kilometres of fighting, and Rollin leads them over the first categorised climb of the day.

2. 243 km to go

   Five minutes, at last

   Only inside the final sixty kilometres does the break's advantage reach five minutes, with Movistar setting an unhurried tempo on the front for Quintana.

3. 310 km to go

   Quintana's one attack

   Movistar stop working with ten kilometres left and the Colombian goes, and for a heartbeat the Vuelta turns over. Luis León Sánchez marks him and Astana have Aru back on terms inside a few hundred metres. He never tries again.

4. 45 km to go

   Visconti's tempo, Dumoulin's crisis

   Movistar are not finished: Visconti is sent to the front with five kilometres left and the pace shakes the red jersey group apart. Dumoulin, hanging on at the 7km banner, finally goes and sets about limiting a loss that soon passes a minute.

5. 5At the line

   Rodríguez ghosts clear

   There is no acceleration — the gradient will not allow one. Joaquim Rodríguez simply moves to the front inside the last two kilometres and pushes, and everyone behind is instantly on the back foot. Quintana cracks at once, Majka comes around a struggling Aru into second overall, and by the line the Catalan is one second off the lead of the Vuelta a España.

The result