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Lampre's Damiano Cunego took his second stage victory of the Vuelta a Espana with a magnificent solo performance on the Sierra de Pandera, while Alejandro Valverde once again strengthened his position on the general classification.

After saving himself on Saturday's ascent of the Alto de Sierra Nevada, Cunego attacked from a breakaway with 15 kilometres remaining, and finished over two minutes clear of Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) in second.

After losing contact with his rivals five kilometres from home, Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) recovered well to finish three seconds ahead of Rabobank's Robert Gesink, 17 seconds ahead of Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto), and 26 ahead of Ivan Basso (Liquigas).

That left Valverde in control of the Vuelta after the last of three tough days in the mountains.

"I can be 70 percent sure that I'm going to win now," the Caisse D'Epargne rider said after the summit finish.

Valverde finished 3:22 down on Cunego, but felt that after a moment of crisis on the final climb the worst was behind him.

"Today I suffered badly and got dropped at one point, but I knew how to fight back and I even ended up gaining time on some of my rivals," he added.

"I didn't panic when I cracked, the group ahead was never out of sight, so I knew things were more or less under control. The important thing is I've retained the overall lead."

Valverde now leads by 31 seconds over Dutchman Robert Gesink with Sanchez third at 1:10.

After a high-tempo first 30 kilometres saw a flurry of early attacks foiled, a nine-man break composed of Christian Knees (Milram), Fuglsang (Saxo Bank), Bram Tankink (Rabobank), Kevin de Weert (Quick Step), Gonzalo Rabunal (Xacobeo-Galicia), Alan Perez (Euskaltel), Xavier Florencio (Cervelo), Adrian Palomares (Contentpolis-Ampo) and Cunego (Lampre) finally went clear.

They quickly built up a lead that grew to under ten minutes on the Liquigas and Caisse d'Epargne-led peloton as they crossed the third-category Alto de Huelma.

Most notably absent from that peloton was Saxo Bank's Fabian Cancellara. The Swiss powerhouse withdrew from the race in order to concentrate on preparing for the world championships in Mendrisio in a fortnight's time.

Caisse d'Epargne veteran Vicente Garcia Acosta drove the peloton into the valley at the foot of the final climb at a punishing pace as the gap to the leaders began to tumble toward the six-minute mark, and when Liquigas took over as the road kicked up, the pack was swiftly whittled down to around 40 riders.

With 15 kilometres to go, Cunego sprang out of the saddle and kicked clear of his fellow escapees,

Sylvester Szmyd's (Liquigas) further reduced the peloton to just over a dozen riders, though Cunego managed to maintain his lead over the peloton at around the four minute mark as the kilometres ticked down and the gradient kicked up.

A titanic effort from Evans on a 13% section of the climb five kilometres from home put Valverde in trouble, while Ezequiel Mosquera and Samuel Sanchez moved clear of Evans and Basso.

After seeming spent on the steepest section, however, Valverde recovered remarkably, and fought his way back to the wheels of Basso and Evans, before surging past them and bridging the gap to his closest rival on the general classification, Gesink.

Meanwhile, Cunego crossed the line, arms aloft to underline his good form ahead of the world championships in Mendrisio in two weeks' time, with Fuglsang 2'23" back.

Sanchez and Mosquera were next to follow, just over three minutes back, while Valverde sprinted clear on the final flat section to put another three seconds into Gesink.

Stage 15 of the Vuelta LIVE on Monday 14th September at 3pm on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

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