Navarro takes maiden win in stage 13

Navarro held off a late surge by countryman Dani Moreno (Katusha) to secure the first Grand Tour stage win of his career in the undulating 188km stage from Belorado in Burgos, northern Spain.

Moreno, on his 33rd birthday, had to settle for second place two seconds down on Navarro, with Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) crossing the line in his back wheel for third.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) led a main pack of race favourites over the line a further three seconds back. Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni - whose FDJ team had chased down an earlier breakaway of five escapees - kept in touch on a tough climb 2km from the finish to take fifth place and some valuable points in the green jersey competition.

Spain's Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) finished seventh place to retain his leader's red jersey. He leads compatriot Valverde by 20 seconds ahead of three successive days in the Asturias mountains.

Colombian Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Britain's Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) all finished in the main pack to stay 1:08, 1:20 and 1:35 down respectively on Contador.

ELEVEN-MAN GROUP: Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Merida), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Luis Leon Sanchez (Caja Rural), Jay Robert Thomson (MTN-Qhubeka), Peter Sagan and Paolo Longo Borghini (both Cannondale), Stef Clement (Belkin), Jaspter Stuyven (Trek Factory Racing), Damien Gaudin (Ag2R-La Mondiale), Vegard Breen (Lotto Belisol) and Danilo Wyss (BMC) formed the day's main break shortly after the start.

Despite the strong composition of the group the escapees never built up a lead of more than three minutes as the Orica-GreenEdge team of Michael Matthews controlled the chase on the front of the peloton.

On the third of three successive lower category climbs - the Cat.2 Alto de Caracol - Russia's Lutsenko attacked from the break as the lead came down to two minutes with just under 50km remaining.

Sanchez, Cunego, Gaudin and Wyss were able to join the former U23 world champion ahead of the summit while the rest of the break sat up and were caught by the pack. GreenEdge's fast pace saw Thursday's stage winner John Degenkolb, the green jersey from Giant-Shimano, distanced along with a whole host of riders.

Following the third climb GreenEdge called time on the chase, perhaps fearful of burning out ahead of the finish. The gap crept back above two minutes before the combined efforts of FDJ and Lotto Belisol saw it tumble down on the undulating roads towards the finish.

Lutsenko went for broke with 14km remaining, the Kazakh opening up a gap of 15 seconds on the disorganised chasing quartet, who were soon swept up by the pack. The Astana rider himself was reeled in with just over 7km remaining as GreenEdge returned to the front of the pack with their man Matthews no doubt in mind.

NERVOUS FINALE: With the short but sharp decisive climb 2.5km from the finish looming on the horizon, the teams of the race favourites jostled on the front of the pack to protect the interests of their leaders.

It was Christophe Le Mevel of Cofidis who made the initial attack as the peloton entered the national park, the French veteran paving the way for team-mate Navarro following a dig by Gianluca Brambilla (OPQS) as the road headed up.

Navarro, a 31-year-old former climbing lieutenant of Contador at both Saxo Bank and Astana, danced clear of Brambilla to crest the summit with a slender lead over the pack.

Twice Ireland's Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) tried his hand at bridging the gap, while an attack by Froome also mustered an energetic response from both Contador and Valverde.

Moreno darted clear of the chasing pack underneath the flamme rouge - but the Spaniard had left it too late. Navarro's win denied Katusha for a fourth time in an increasingly frustrating Vuelta for the Russian-funded team.

Bouhanni's fifth place saw the French sprinter - who will join Navarro at Cofidis next season - cut Degenkolb's lead to 22 points in the green jersey competition. Australia's Matthews - despite his team's hard work - finished in isolation 34 seconds down on the stage winner.

RIDE OF THE DAY: Daniel Navarro has so often put his own ambitions aside for more illustrious riders like Alberto Contador - but the 31-year-old finally opened his Grand Tour account with a well-timed attack on home soil.

DAY TO FORGET: Another day, another setback for Peter Sagan... One day after the Slovakian showed a return to form with fourth place in the stage 12 bunch sprint, Sagan looked to be back to his best after joining the main break in a stage which, on paper, suited his strengths to a tee. But the 24-year-old toiled on the third climb of the day before being caught, passed and spat out by the peloton. He eventually limped home more than 15 minutes down - another ominous result ahead of the world championships later this month.

COMING UP: The first of three back-to-back mountain stages concludes with Cat.1 ascent that peaks out at 24% and will be no doubt see the top of the race blown apart. Alberto Contador has been so strong up until this point - but we will soon find out whether or not his recently broken shin is up to the really steep stuff.