The whole 198 riders took the start at 13:22. Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural) was the first rider on the move. He was reined in and four riders broke clear at kilometer 14 –– Jerome Cousin (Cofidis), Simon Pellaud (IAM Cycling), David Arroyo (Caja Rural), and Gatis Smukulis (Astana). Four kilometers further down the road, they were joined by Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Rudiger Selig (Bora-Argon 18) and Pieter Serry (Etixx-Quick Step). Simon Pellaud, lying 1:13 adrift overall, was the best-placed rider of the breakaway, whose lead topped at 5:30 at kilometer 115.
France's Warren Barguil, who started the Vuelta in poor shape with a lingering sinusitis, was the first rider to drop out of this 71st edition.
In the ascent of Alto de Lestaio (Km 118), the leading group split and Pellaud was first at the top of the 3rd category climb, foiiowed by Geniez. The peloton recached the summit seven minutes behind as Pellaud attacked on his own in the descent.
One kilometer from the top of the second category Alto Das Paxareiras (km 155.4), the former under-23 Swiss champion faltered and was caught and dropped by Geniez and Serry, the Frenchman collecting the KOM points to rid his team-mate Laurent Pichon of his polka dot jersey.
Pellaud made it back in the descent, Serry won the intermediate sprint of the day (Km 166) and the three led the pack by 2:00 at the bottom of the last climb in Ezaro, 1.6 kilometers from the finish line. In the pack, Tour de Suisse winner Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) was involved in a bad crash 8 km from the finish.
Geniez quickly dropped Pellaud and parted with Serry with one kilometer to go to reach the top on his own. Behind, Movistar displayed a formidable collective strength to launch Ruben Fernandez, who sprinted to second place to take the red jersey off Michal Kwiatkwowski's back.
Alejandro Valverde, Chris Froome and Esteban Chaves finished together in this order, 26 seconds behind Geniez, with Nairo Quintana six second adrift. But Alberto Contador again lost precious ground, finishing 28 seconds behind his leading rivals for final victory.
