Alessandro de Marchi surged upward into the mountain fog to win the 14th stage of the Spanish Vuelta, while fellow Italian Fabio Aru kept the red leader's jersey on Saturday.
De Marchi pulled away from four other escapees to win the 215-kilometre (113-mile) ride — the longest of the three-week Grand Tour— in 5 hours, 43 minutes.
The stage started in Vitoria and ended at the special-category Fuente del Chivo summit. With visibility reduced to meters by the thick fog, Aru recovered from a late attack by Nairo Quintana and second-place Joaquim Rodriguez to cross the line just behind the title rivals.
Aru's advantage was reduced by one second to 26 seconds ahead of Rodriguez with mountain stages coming over the next two days.
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