Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) underlined his dominance of La Vuelta a España with a stunning stage victory at La Farrapona.

The 2012 champion, wearing the red jersey of the overall leader, climbed to victory on a mountainous stage in the North West of the country.

Contador now looks to have victory fully within his grasp, despite breaking his leg at the Tour de France less than two months ago.

BMC's Rohan Dennis, recently signed from Garmin-Sharp, was in the thick of a 13-man breakaway which went clear following the first climb of the day.

Fabian Cancellara (Trek) launched an attack from the peloton, hoping to bridge to the leaders, but the Swiss rider was unable to cross the gap and was eventually swept up by the main field.

The day's most bizarre moment came soon afterwards when two of the remaining breakaway riders - Gianluca Brambilla (OPQS) and Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo) were disqualified from the race for trading punches.

That left only Wout Poels (OPQS) and Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) as the leaders on the road. When De Marchi attacked, Poels couldn't follow and with just 11 kilometres remaining, the Italian was the sole leader.

However, with five kilometres remaining, Chris Froome (Sky) launched an attack and only overall leader Contador could follow.

The duo worked together to overhaul De Marchi, but the co-operation would not last and within the final kilometre, Contador hit out with the stage's decisive attack.

The Spaniard attacked ferociously and Froome, the 2013 Tour de France champion, was unable to follow.

Contador eventually crossed the line 14 seconds ahead of his British rival.

“When Froome has a change of pace it is difficult to follow him but I managed to do it and I knew Valverde and Purito [Rodriguez] were behind so it could be an important day for me,” said Contador.

“What gives me more reassurance is that I am recovering well, I have the power in my legs despite the [crash in the Tour] I suffered and now we have a rest day ahead of us that we need to make the most of.”

Tuesday sees the final rest day of the race, before Wednesday brings the Vuelta's final flat stage.