Alessandro De Marchi powers through rain clouds to win stage 11 of Vuelta
The BMC rider was dominant during the longest stage of the race.
Italy’s Alessandro De Marchi powered through tricky conditions to win stage 11 of La Vuelta as Britain’s Simon Yates clung on to the overall lead.
BMC rider De Marchi opened up a gap on the final uphill section of the 207.8km route from Mombuey to Luintra and comfortably held on for a commanding 28-second victory.
Colombian Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha Alpecin) emerged through the rain clouds to finish second, while Italian Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain-Merida) was a further 31 seconds behind in third.
Yates, in the red jersey, won this stage last year but could only manage to claim 16th place as he finished two minutes and two seconds off the pace among the main pack.
However, the Mitchelton-Scott rider’s closest rivals – Movistar team-mates Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana – also finished in that group.
Spaniard Valverde remains just one second behind Yates in the general classification, while Colombian Quintana is 14 seconds adrift.
Frenchman Thibaut Pinot had threatened to wrestle away the advantage from 26-year-old Yates in north-west Spain, riding half of the race in the virtual overall lead.
But the Groupama-FDJ rider, who began the day in 16th position, two minutes and 33 seconds off the lead, fell away and managed to take only 13 seconds off that deficit.
