Olympic champion Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadias) claimed his second stage victory at this year's La Vuelta a Espana on Saturday night (AEST) after holding off both Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and GC contender Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) by eight seconds on a difficult summit finish atop the Sierra de la Pandera.
However, the impressive breakaway which won the Ecuadorian the stage proved to be far from where the action would end on the difficult 160-kilometre course.
Despite trailing Belgian rival Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step AlphaVinyl) by two minutes and 41 seconds at the start of the race, the Slovenian capitalised on a late fade from the red jersey holder on the final ascent of the race, blowing the general classification wide open as he wiped 52 seconds off Evenepoel.
The finish exposed the race leader's vulnerablity after the 22-year-old crashed on stage 12 of the race, where he managed not to lose any time thanks to a strong effort on the Peñas Blancas.
However, Evenepoel eventually conceded after Saturday night's (AEST) stage that the incident may have been a factor in his failure to match the pace of Roglic on the final ascent.
"The legs he had, it was pretty clear. I just tried to control the damage a bit because it was actually a really hard final, much harder than I expected," he said.
"When he went off I knew I couldn't follow him because it was pretty fast, I just tried to do my own pace. It's my second day after the crash so maybe I just didn't have the feeling in my body. I hope this is my only bad day in the Grand Tour."
The result would have undoubtedly boosted the confidence of Roglic, after the Jumbo-Visma leader slipped from leading the general classification in stage four to being four minutes and nine seconds off the pace and fifth overall by the following stage.
The stage 14 result was the closest Roglic has come to reclaiming the lead in the race since Evenpoel took over the red jersey at Pico Jano on stage six, as the Slovenian looks to potentially win a fourth-consecutive La Vuelta.
"It's definitely a nice day, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose a bit," he said.
"Hopefully we can keep this trend, I'm feeling better and we race now. I'm still quite far (from the red jersey) but the race is still long."
The Slovenian was also quick to praise Aussie teammate Chris Harper, who was instrumental in establishing the breakaway that his leader used to captitilise on the shortcomings of his GC rival.
"The guys really did a great job, each and every one of them really pushed hard. I'm happy to be a part of this team and am really looking forward to the next days."
La Vuelta continues tonight with Stage 15, a massive 153 kilometre mountain with 4,000 metres of total climbing on the journey from Martos to the summit of Sierra Nevada. Watch the action from 9pm (AEST) on SBS On Demand before SBS coverage begins from 11:10pm (AEST).
