Alessandro De Marchi powered through tricky conditions to win stage 11 of the Vuelta a España, while Simon Yates clung on to the overall lead.

De Marchi (BMC) 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 28sec victory.

Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha Alpecin) emerged through the rain clouds to finish second, while Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain-Merida) was a further 31 seconds behind in third.

Yates, in the red jersey, won this stage last year but came in 16th. He finished 2min 2sec off the pace among the main pack. However, the Mitchelton-Scott rider’s closest rivals – Movistar teammates Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana – also finished in that group.

Valverde remains one second behind Yates in the general classification, while Quintana is 14sec adrift.

Thibaut Pinot had threatened to wrestle away the advantage from 26-year-old Yates, riding half of the race in the virtual overall lead. But the Groupama-FDJ rider, who began the stage 16th, 2min 33sec off the lead, fell away and managed to take only 13sec off that deficit.