Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) hung on to claim stage 15 of the Vuelta a España atop Lagos de Covadonga. The Polish rider survived from the early break to hold off the overall race favourites with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) finishing second and third.

Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) finished fourth but conceded precious time to his two main Spanish rivals. For Chris Froome (Team Sky) it was another day of yo-yoing off the back but the former Tour de France winner limited his losses and finished seven seconds behind Contador.

Contador now leads Valverde by 31 seconds with Froome in third at 1:20 and Rodriguez at the same time.

There was very little to separate Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez. All three tried to break their shackles on the final climb of the stage but as the road settled near the crest of the summit the trio could only be separated by a late sprint for the line.

Contador was perhaps the most aggressive of the three, attacking several times as he looked to drop his two shadows. Valverde learned his lesson from stage 14 and took a more conservative approach, while Rodriguez used his Katusha team to soften up the opposition before launching one severe test that almost cracked Contador well before the line.

However, as the dust settles atop the Lagos de Covadonga the Spanish trio may wonder if they could have put more time into Froome, who at one stage was forced to come back from an almost 30-second deficit.

How it unfolded

As for Niemiec, he has provided Lampre with their second stage win of this year’s race after Winner Anacona won in the race’s first week. It was Niemiec’s perseverance as much as his strength that saw him through though after he had been forced to chase and then work with Orica-GreenEdge’s Cameron Meyer. The pair had joined forces with John Degenkolb (Giant Shimano), Kristof Vandewalle (Trek Factory Racing) and Francisco Aramendia (Caja Rural) early in the stage and created a gap in excess of 10 minutes at one point.

That gap inevitably began to topple as Movistar, Katusha and Tinkoff-Saxo set about organising a chase but even at the foot of the Puerto del Torno the leaders still had a relatively intact lead.

It would have been easy to expect hostilities to arrive once the race hit the final climb but instead they began at the bottom of the Puerto del Torno. The rain had started to fall and the temperatures had dropped. With fog encircling the peloton Movistar muscled their way to the front and immediately started to ratchet up the pace. The effects were immediate with the peloton reduced to less then 60, then 50, and then 40 riders.

At the back of the peloton there was panic for Garmin-Sharp. Dan Martin, who had started the day as a favourite for the stage, appeared to crash. His teammates huddled around him and it looked as though the Irishman was handed a teammates bike. Up ahead Movistar’s pace was relentless as the peloton shrunk to less than 30 riders with still over thirty kilometres remaining.

By the time Martin and his Garmin chain gang has crested the summit they were well over a minute down, with a testing and wet descent to come.

Even Samuel Sanchez, widely regarded as one of the best riders on the world when it comes to descending at speed, appeared to struggle, with his back wheel slipping out around a number of corners. Castroviejo rider faired far worse and by the time the motorbike cameras had caught up the rider with half-way down a ravine, his bike still in the middle of the road. He was able to get to his feet up there would be no easing in pace until the peloton had reached the final valley before the climb.

It gave Martin the welcome chance to regain contact and as the remnants of the field started the final climb the leading climb – minus Degenkolb – had four minutes of their lead remaining.

Meyer’s acceleration was too strong for the rest of the group but he was soon joined by Niemiec, the pair sharing the pace as the gradient began to tilt upwards.

Back down the climb and the initial sorting had begun. Warren Barguil initiated the action with the first of many accelerations. Rodriguez moved his first piece on the board, posting Caruso out to mark the Frenchman as Contador's teammates began to slip backwards.

Barguil’s second attack had more venom but again he was reeled back as Froome took up his customary position as the last man in the GC group.

Katusha were far from done though, this time sending out both Moreno and Caruso with the ever eager Barguil.

It was Rodriguez who brought the trio back though with 6.3km to go before Contador unleashed his first attack. He was quickly marked by the Katusha leader, Valverde and a battling Martin.

Froome was losing ground and Contador – constantly looking for the Sky rider’s presence – jumped again. This time only Valverde and Rodriguez could match him. But there was no cohesion, no urgency, and no realisation that they were allowing a former Tour winner to remain a threat.

Contador, perhaps out of frustration, attacked again as up the road Niemiec soloed clear. Froome was slipping at this point, 15 seconds down as Barguil and Aru made contact with Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez. Again there was a further regrouping with Froome, Martin and Uran among the weary Contador group.

With every surge in pace Froome was losing ground and with 3km to go the elastic finally snapped as Contador accelerated with Rodriguez and Valverde once again in tow.

As the road eased Froome came close – once more – to regaining contact. However Rodriguez’s late attack and the sprint for the line ended the Sky rider’s hopes. Yet this Vuelta is far from over.

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