Local boy Dani Moreno of Katusha won the Vuelta a España Stage Eight and took over the leader's red jersey in Valdepeñas de Jaén..
It was another uphill finish for the riders on this 163.7kms stage eight from Antequera to Valdepeñas de Jaén.
Team Sky's Welshman Luke Rowe got himself into the day's main break with Lloyd Mondory of AG2R, FDJ's Anthony Roux, Caja Rural's Francisco Aramendia and Vacansoleil's Jonny Hoogerland.
They had been 3.24 ahead of the race leader Nicholas Roche but inside the final forty kilometres, their lead was less than a minute.
Going in to the final twenty five kilometres after Mondory had taken the second sprint of the day, there was Aramendia left up front.
The peloton soon dealt with him and surged towards the alto des los frailes climb, persuing Robert Kiserlovski and then Team Sky's Edvald Boasson-Hagen who had taken over on the front.
Luis Leon Sanchez went after the Norwegian on the descent with eleven kilometres to go and two kilometres later, was behind him by eleven seconds.
The final climb of the day started with six kilometres to go and had gradients of 30%. Boasson Hagen, who had cornered superbly, was caught with 1.7kms and local rider Dani Moreno of Katusha, who needed to beat Roche by seven seconds and win if he was to take over the race lead, went away, followed by Valverde and Rodriquez.
Moreno kept going and won in 4.18.57 with Valverde second and Rodriguez third.but Nicholas Roche gave it one last massive shove .However, he finished eight seconds back in fourth place and Moreno took the leader's jersey by a single second.
Speaking about his lead to La Vuelta.com, Moreno said: "I’ve moved into the lead but the last week is going to be hard. Having the red jersey now doesn’t change anything for me. "I deserved it today and I’ll defend it but not crazily.
"Tomorrow, Ivan Basso can be very strong for example. Anything can happen. Purito and Nibali have the endurance. They know how to handle the distance over three weeks. "It’s a really long race with very strong riders."
Roche said: “I was afraid of this scenario. Dani Moreno showed in the last few days that he can finish fast. He didn’t come out of shadow. He has won world class races before. I wasn’t hoping for that but I thought it might happen. That’s why we didn’t chase the breakaway down as we preferred not to give Moreno a chance to get some time bonus.
"Today I’m a bit sad to lose the red jersey but yesterday was wonderful. Every day is different.
"Remember that last year, the Vuelta completely changed with four days to go. Hopefully I can do a good time trial. I lose the lead for one second but I haven’t had a bad stage today. I finish fourth. I was already 5th and 6th the last two times here at Valdepeñas de Jaén.
"At some stage, I saved as much energy as I could thinking of the last climb. But I don’t want to be satisfied with myself too soon. I might lose in minutes what I gained in seconds today over some adversaries.
"It’s always hard for a rider who has done the Tour de France to know how long the form will last at the Vuelta. "The last week might be a complete different story.”
Pictures copyright of Unipublic/Graham Watson