Hola and welcome to live coverage of stage 14 of the Vuelta a Espana - a 215km ride into the Cantabrian mountains that featured three categorised climbs including the summit finish atop the Alto Campoo at Fuente del Chivo.

This is Salvatore Puccio's fifth Grand Tour and second Vuelta and the 26-year-old Sky domestique is still looking for a maiden pro win. Puccio has been at Sky all his career and his best result so far this season is second place in the opening prologue time trial in the Tour de Slovenie in June.

The gap is back up to 9:30 for the five leaders, who will very much contest the victory today.

Frenchman Mikael Cherel, 29, is riding his fourth Vuelta and his ninth Grand Tour. Should this break go the distance he'll have his best ever stage finish on a major race: his current zenith is 6th (in both the 2009 and 2013 Vueltas). The former FDJ rider is looking for his first ever pro win, although this July he finished an impressive 18th in the Tour de France - his best ever Grand Tour final placing.

Rojas is picking up gels from his Movistar team car. He's still bearing the scars from that nasty fall he suffered on a descent last week.

Fabio Aru is currently off the back of the peloton after stopping off for a call of nature. There's no hurry for the peloton, which seems content to roll along and let this break continue battling for the stage win further up the road.

The five-man break still has 8:30 over the pack so the smart money is on them winning. Of the five leaders there's one man who really stands out - although don't discount that man Quintero - Team Colombia need a win...

The riders are onto a plateau ahead of the intermediate sprint. It looks like the action will all come down to the final climb with regards to the GC battle.

The peloton still tackles the climb with the Astana team of Fabio Aru setting a gentle tempo.

The break crests the summit of the Puerto del Escudo with a lead of nine minutes. Cherel once again takes maximum points. That will put him onto 15 points for the day, which is fifth place in the KOM standings overall.

Third rider to withdaw today: Lluis Mas (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA).

An idea of the kind of scenary out there today, thanks to Eurosport's very own Laura Mesequer...

The most experienced rider in this group is Jose Joaquin Rojas who, like De Marchi, was involved in yesterday's break. The Spaniard from Movistar is riding only his second Vuelta, although he has ridden the Giro once and the Tour on six occasions. Always there or thereabouts in the sprints, Rojas has yet to finish first or second on a Grand Tour stage, with many, many 3rd, 4th and 5th places to his name. His last pro win - the eight of his career - came in the Tour of Qatar back in February.

Alessandro De Marchi is the only rider in this break to have tasted victory on the Vuelta, the Italian having won stage 7 to Alcaudete last year. The 29-year-old climber also has a win in the 2013 Criterium du Dauphine to his name and this is his sixth Grand Tour (with two appearances in each so far). De Marchi was involved in yesterday's break but missed a trick when Nelson Oliveira attacked on the final descent.

The break is onto the Cat.1 Puerto del Escud, which is almost 12km long and peaks out at 15%.

A reminder of our five leaders, who have been out since the 52nd kilometre: Alessandro de Marchi (BMC), Salvatore Puccio (Team Sky), José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar), Mikael Chérel (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Carlos Quintero (Team Colombia). The gap is 9:55.

The gap is approaching ten minutes now for the five leaders as they near the end of this short but sharp technical descent. It will head up almost instantaneously for the second of today's categorised climbs.

Movistar's two leaders have been in the wars, what with Quintana's illness and Valverde's shoulder injury following his crash last week. They're 3:07 and 1:52 down on Aru on GC. Movistar team director Jose-Luis Arrieta told lavuelta.com: "We have three very hard days ahead of us and we're not in an ideal position. But we've had a great season so far and we can't complain. We're happy that Nairo was able to overcome his problems yesterday. He struggled in the first climb but then managed to stay in the bunch. We hope his virus is over now. We'll see today. If he manages to stay with the best, then we have great hopes for the end of the Vuelta. Alejandro's shoulder is still stiff in the morning but it goes better during the stage."

For laptop, tablet and PC users, here's what the riders have to expect in the final 2km today. It's misty up there and it's currently only 14 degrees Celsius.

Like all the other nine summit finishes on this year's Vuelta, the Alto Campoo is being used for the first time as a stage finish. It has featured three times before on the Vuelta, mind: in 1985, 1987 and 1993.

The gap increases to over eight minutes for these escapees, all of whom can dream of a victory today atop the Alto Campoo.

It's that man Cherel who takes 5pts for crossing the summit in pole position, with Rojas second with 3pts and Puccio third for 1pt. None of these men are a threat to the current polka dot jersey, Omar Fraile of Caja Rural. The Spaniard had 55 points, with Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida) in second place on 27 points and a third home rider, Astana's Mikel Landa, on 25 points.