De Manchi wins Vuelta state 14 as lead stays unchanged

Alessandro De Manchi (BMC) won the 14th stage of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race on the mountain top finish of Alto Campoo on Saturday.

De Manchi's win saw him re-find his form after a season in which he has suffered a series of physical problems and also sees him repeat victory in Spain, where he also won a stage in the 2014 edition of the race.

The Italian was part of a five-man breakaway which left the main peloton behind in the 55th kilometer of the 215km stage, which included a fist category climb, before ending on the special category ride up to Alto Campoo.

He was accompanied by Salvatore Puccio, Mikael Cherel, Quarlos Quintero and Jose Joaquin Rojas and the fact that none of those in the break was a threat to the overall lead of Fabio Aru meant that Aru's Astana team were content to let them open a 10 minute advantage over the peloton.

That lead was enough for the group to reach the final climb of the day, where De Manchi was the strongest of the five and claimed the stage.

The main group of favorites finished around three minutes behind De Manchi and second placed Joaquin Rodriguez was able to cut one second over Aru's lead, which third placed Tom Dumoulin slipped to 49 seconds off the leader.

Meanwhile after suffering on Friday, Nairo Quintana appeared to recover his legs and finished a handful of seconds ahead of the leader's group.

Sunday is another mountain stage with the riders taking on 175.5 km ending on the top of the first category Alto de Sotres in the northern region of Asturias. Endi