Contador outlasts Froome to win Queen Stage

The two riders expected to go the distance in July's Tour de France finally went head-to-head in Spain in a thrilling finale to the queen stage of the race.

Broken limbs denied Tinkoff-Saxo's Contador and Team Sky's Froome in France - but the two best GC riders of their generation were seemingly back to their best with an almighty tussle on the fifth and final climb of a pulsating 160km stage from San Martin del Rey Aurelio in Asturias, northern Spain.

Contador was the only rider able to respond to Froome's attack four kilometres from the summit of the 16.5km final climb. The pair managed to catch Italian lone leader Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) with 3km remaining before the red jersey showed his class with a stinging attack inside the final kilometre.

After his first stage win of the race, Contador finished 15 seconds clear of Froome to extend his lead to 1:36 over compatriot Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

Valverde finished fourth on the stage, 55 seconds in arrears and five seconds behind De Marchi. He leads third-place Chris Froome by three seconds on the general classification with Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) in fourth place at 2:29.

The toughest stage of the race - and one of the most exciting mountain finishes of the season so far - was sadly overshadowed, however, by a fistfight between Omega-Pharma Quick Step's Gianluca Brambilla and Ivan Rovny of Tinkoff-Saxo, both of whom were disqualified from the race.

[LINK: Fistfight breaks out between riders at Vuelta a Espana]

THIRTEEN-MAN BREAK: There was early evidence that stage 16 was going to be a cracker when Contador, Froome and Valverde all broke clear of the main pack on the first climb of the day in pursuit of a fragmenting 13-man break on the Cat.1 Alto de la Colladona, just 15km from the start.

Rodriguez sent his Katusha team-mates to the front of the pack to lead the chase and the illustrious trio were swept up on the descent as a new group - also containing 13 riders - formed on the front.

Tinkoff-Saxo, Team Sky and Movistar were all represented in the break through Ivan Rovny, Peter Kennaugh and Adriano Malori respectively, but there was no place for Katusha who continued to marshal the peloton as the lead swelled to eight minutes ahead of the second climb of the day.

While Omega Pharma-Quick Step saw their GC rider Rigoberto Uran - suffering from bronchitis - distanced early on, they had two men in the break in the form of Wout Poels and Gianluca Brambilla. Also in the mix were Rohan Dennis (BMC), Laurens ten Dam (Belkin), Luis Leon Sanchez and Peio Bilbao (Caja Rural), Romain Sicard (Europcar), Johan Le Bon (FDJ) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Merida).

Spaniard Sanchez crossed the summit of the first three climbs in pole position to secure enough KOM points to seize the polka dot jersey back from compatriot Valverde. Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara attacked the peloton on the third climb, the Cat.1 Alto de Cobertoria, to cross the summit 3:50 down on the break and 25 seconds clear of the bunch.

DRAMATIC DISQUALIFICATION: With Cancellara swept up by the pack after Froome's Sky team-mates muscled in alongside Katusha on the front of the pack with 40km remaining, the most unlikely of scenes played out as the break started the Cat.1 Puerto de San Lorenzo climb.

Brambilla and Rovny came to blows resulting in the Russian breaking his sunglasses and the Italian being forced to ride off the road onto the grass verge. Replays showed the two riders in heated discussion before exchanging a series of slaps, punches and pinches while riding uphill.

Spurred on by the moment, Brambilla attacked alongside De Marchi with 38km remaining. The duo were soon caught by Brambilla's OPQS team-mate Poels as the remainder of the break dropped back. Poels was dropped near the summit, but the Belgian rider - who will join Team Sky next year - managed to rejoin the leading duo on the descent ahead of the final climb.

The leaders held an advantage of just two minutes as the race commissaire's red car drew level with Brambilla at the start of the final ascent. After some wild gesticulating the Italian suddenly dropped off the pace after being informed of his apparent disqualification. The same fate was reserved for his fellow fighter, Rovny, who was pacing team-mate Contador after being swept up from the break when he also was given his marching orders.

SKY TRAIN: British national champion Kennaugh joined Philip Deignan and Mikel Nieve on the front of the main pack after being caught from the break. With 15km remaining, Froome's Sky team-mates set an infernal pace to splinter the pack and isolate the other GC favourites.

Sky's high tempo seemed to spell out the end for the leading duo. De Marchi, winner of stage 7, took matters into his own hands with 11.5km remaining, attacking Poels and opening up a gap of 1:30 over his pursuers.

A front wheel change ended Deignan's day but Sky continued with the zeal of old until Kennaugh peeled away with 5km remaining. Nieve took up the relay for Froome as Poels was soon swallowed up.

With the main pack whittled down to just 10 riders, Froome made the move that looked to be on the cards: surging clear with the kind of venom that saw him win the Tour de France in 2013, Froome discarded all his rivals bar Contador on the steepest double-digit gradients of the climb.

Aware that the onus was on Froome to put him under pressure, Contador simply kept his cool and rode in the wake of his rival. Meanwhile, Italian youngster Fabio Aru (Astana) struggled to stay with Valverde and Rodriguez in pursuit.

De Marchi was caught and dropped with 2.5km remaining before Contador finally turned the tables on his opponent. A single, huge out-of-the-saddle dig was enough to distance Froome and his high-cadence seated spinning - a victory for aesthetics as well as sheer power and climbing ability.

Both Valverde and Rodriguez finished within one minute of Contador but they will rue not punishing Froome at Lagos de Covadonga when the opportunity presented itself.

Aru took sixth place at 1:06, six seconds ahead of Ireland's Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp). Robert Gesink (Bekin), Samuel Sanchez (BMC) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) completed the top ten ahead of Warren Barguil (Giant-Shimano) and Daniel Navarro (Cofidis).

RIDE OF THE DAY: Well, he did always say that he hoped to return to strong enough form to win a stage in the third week of the race - but few would have expected Alberto Contador to do it in such swashbuckling style while further extending his overall lead. It's going to take quite something to seize the red jersey from the shoulders of the Spaniard now.

DAY TO FORGET: Suffering from bronchitis, Colombia's Rigoberto Uran was off the back on the first climb of the day - and although the OPQS rider limited his losses to 15-odd minutes, he plummeted out of the top ten after a testing day in the saddle. Still, it could have been worse - he could have been ignominiously disqualified like his team-mate Gianluca Brambilla and Tinkoff-Saxo's Ivan Rovny.

COMING UP: After three successive days in the high mountains it's a well-earned second rest day for the peloton ahead of Wednesday's 191km rolling ride along the Galician coastline.