Vuelta a Espana: Nelson Oliveira wins as Fabio Aru retains lead

Breakaway rider Nelson Oliveira claimed a superb solo victory on stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana as Fabio Aru retained the overall lead.

Oliveira (Lampre-Merida) formed part of the day's 24-man escape group but moved into a lone lead with around 25km to go and hung on to win by 1min 00sec from runner-up Julien Simon (Cofidis) and third-placed Nicolas Roche (Team Sky).

Aru (Astana) crossed the finish line in Tarazona alongside all of his rivals for overall victory and consequently remains 27 seconds ahead of second-placed Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and 30 seconds in front of third-placed Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin).

Oliveira's attack initially looked like a futile move, but when his 23 fellow escapees failed to muster a coordinated chase, he quickly opened up an unassailable advantage and went on to claim the first professional win of his career.

Back in the peloton, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) suffered a difficult day as he fought illness. He was dropped on a category-one climb midway through the stage but managed to catch back up to the main bunch and finished alongside his rivals.

The Vuelta continues on Saturday with a 215km 14th stage from Vitoria to Alto Campoo, which is the first of three back-to-back summit finishes. Follow the action with our live blog from 3.30pm BST.

Stage 13 result

1 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Lampre-Merida, 4:14:01

2 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, +1:00

3 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky, same time

4 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling, st

5 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Esp) Movistar, st

6 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st

7 Kevin Reza (Fra) FDJ.fr, st

8 Mikael Cherel (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st

9 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st

10 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal, st

General classification

1 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, 51:33:19

2 Joaquim Rodriguez (Esp) Katusha, +27

3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +30

4 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo, +1:28

5 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +1:29

6 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +1:52

7 Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, +1:54

8 Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky, +1:58

9 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx - Quick-Step, +2:51

10 Romain Sicard (Fra) Europcar, same time

Selected other

11 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +3:07