Nicolas Roche was the only mover in the top 10 after a late attack in a rain-hit stage 10 of the Vuelta a Espana.
BMC Racing Team’s Irish rider took advantage in tricky descent conditions to skilfully move up the rankings, coming in 29 seconds ahead of the main field.
"It was a good day. It wasn't really a plan to go on the descent until I saw Vincenzo (Nibali) open up a small gap. But I was there with him and said, 'Let's go and see what happens'," Roche told Eurosport. He joins Esteban Chaves in joint second place.
Matteo Trentin powered past Jose Joaquin Rojas to win the stage, while Chris Froome retained the red jersey.
The 164.8km run from Caravaca de la Cruz to Alhama de Murcia ended with a thrilling descent after riders climbed the Collado Bermejo. Trentin sealed his second stage win by beating Rojas in a sprint, despite the Murcia-born rider’s desperation to win on home soil.
Italian Quick-Step Floors rider Trentin completed the stage in a time of three hours, 34 minutes and 56 seconds, his team’s fourth stage victory of the Vuelta, ahead of Movistar’s Rojas and another Spaniard, Jaime Roson Garcia of Caja Rural.
“I really wanted it. I was thinking about this stage for a while because the climb was hard, but it was a steady grind,” Trentin told reporters.
“It was something that I can handle pretty well. I knew the downhill was really technical. For me it was good having Rojas in the front group because he was really, really good going down. I could just follow him.”
Froome held his general classification advantage of 36 seconds ahead of Colombian Chaves of Orica-Scott and Roche.
