Quintana surges into GC lead in Vuelta

Quintana staged a late attack on a brutal finish to a largely flat 181.5 kilometre route from Villalpando to La Camperona to leapfrog Darwin Atapuma into the red jersey.

The Movistar rider leads the general classification by 19 seconds from team-mate Alejandro Valverde after gaining 12 seconds on the Spaniard and 33 seconds on Team Sky's Tour de France champion Chris Froome, who is 27 seconds back in third.

For Katusha's Lagutin his victory marked his first race win since 2012 and a maiden Grand Tour success.

Lagutin attacked within the final 300 metres and Axel Domont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) did not have the legs to respond, the Frenchman left to settle for second.

But the drama came further back in the field, with Quintana ensuring an attack from Froome did not have the desired effect before launching his own ultimately pivotal assault on the closing climb.

Froome was passed on the line by Alberto Contador, who opted to continue with the Vuelta despite being badly injured in a stage-seven crash.

Tinkoff's Contador is up to seventh, one minute and 39 seconds off the pace and three seconds adrift of Atapuma, who finished over two minutes behind Quintana.