Fabio Aru held off a strong challenge from Joaquim Rodriguez to protect his overall lead in the Vuelta as BMC Racing’s Italian Alessandro De Marchi won the 14th stage on Saturday.

Italian Aru of the Astana team looked fresh in the final 18km climb to the Alto Campoo in Fuente del Chivo but he was countered by a resurgent Nairo Quintana of Colombia (Movistar) and Rodriguez of Spain.

After 215km from Vitoria, De Marchi was the strongest of a five-man breakaway group, with Quintana finishing sixth ahead of the other top guns, 3:32 off the pace.

Rodriguez was seventh, six seconds behind the Tour de France runner-up and Aru ended up ninth one second further back.

Red jersey holder Aru leads Rodriguez (Katusha) by 26 seconds with Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) retaining his third place, although he now trails the Italian by 49 seconds after losing 19 seconds on Saturday.

Quintana, who had lost considerable ground in the 11th stage because of a fever, looked near his best again and is now ninth overall, three minutes behind Aru.

Saturday’s 14th stage was the first of three consecutive summit finishes in the three-week race which ends on Sept. 13 in Madrid.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche finished today’s stage in 38th place, and is now 17th overall - 11 minutes 10 seconds behind Aru.