Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) took victory on stage 7 of the Vuelta a Espana as the Italian accelerated away from his breakaway companions to cross the line ahead of a sluggish peloton on the road to Alcaudete.

De Marchi was part of a strong four-man group alongside Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Hubert Dupont (Ag2r-La Mondiale), and Johann Tschopp (IAM Cycling), but went solo with 14km to go as Dupont and Tschopp were dropped and Hesjedal hit the deck. The peloton trailed home three minutes in arrears, led by Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp)

More than 30km were needed to establish the day’s break, which was initiated by Hesjedal and Tschopp who were then joined by Dupont and De Marchi as the peloton slowed to wait for Chris Froome (Team Sky) who found himself in a crash on the approach to the first climb, but regained contact with nothing wounded but his pride.

The quartet quickly established a sizeable gap, which only began to fall once Lampre-Merida went to the head of the peloton in the final 40km. However the Italian team were unable to make significant inroads into the front group’s advantage, and with 15km to go it was clear that the winner would come from the breakaway.

Dupont was the first to be dropped as De Marchi applied the pressure on one of a number of small rises, before Hesjedal hit the deck as his tyres lost grip on an innocuous-looking left-hand bend. With 13km standing between him and a maiden grand tour stage victory, De Marchi accelerated again, detaching Tschopp, and never looking back as he crossed the line in glorious isolation.

The three other breakaway riders eventually joined up, but were only able to mount a half-hearted chase, eventually coming home more than two minutes behind the Italian victor.

With much harder days to come, the peloton might have been content to roll across the line, but a late acceleration by Dan Martin was leapt upon by Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing) and, notably, Chris Froome who was able to snatch what might prove to be a useful three seconds over the rest of the GC contenders as the race moves into its second week.