Gutsy Pablo Castrillo wins tough Vuelta stage atop Cuitu Negru

Spain's Pablo Castrillo pushed through the pain barrier to take stage 15 of the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday, his second stage win, while Primoz Roglic took more time off race leader Ben O'Connor

Castrillo (Kern-Pharma) was part of a leading trio on the gruelling Cuitu Negru climb to the finish and made his move with three kilometres to the end of the 143km ride from Infiesto to Valgrane-Pajares.

In the final kilometre he glanced over his shoulder to see Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) appear through the fog, but Castrillo found another burst of energy to hold off the Russian, with Pavel Sivakov of France coming in third.

Three-times former champion Primoz Roglic finished fifth, coming in 38 seconds ahead of the red jersey, Australian O'Connor, who now holds a slender 43-second lead going into the final week.

 Stage 15 top 10

1  CASTRILLO Pablo Equipo Kern Pharma 3:45:51
2  VLASOV Aleksandr Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 0:12
3  SIVAKOV Pavel UAE Team Emirates 0:31
4  MAS Enric Movistar Team 1:04
5  ROGLIC Primož Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 1:04
6  SKJELMOSE Mattias Lidl - Trek 1:09
7  CARAPAZ Richard EF Education - EasyPost 1:13
8  KUSS Sepp Team Visma | Lease a Bike 1:22
9  LANDA Mikel Soudal Quick-Step 1:27
10  GAUDU David Groupama - FDJ 1:37

GC after stage 15

1  O'CONNOR Ben Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 60:19:22
2  ROGLIC Primož Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 0:43
3  MAS Enric Movistar Team 2:23
4  CARAPAZ Richard EF Education - EasyPost 2:44
5  LANDA Mikel Soudal Quick-Step 3:05
6  LIPOWITZ Florian Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 4:33
7  GAUDU David Groupama - FDJ 4:39
8  RODRÍGUEZ Carlos INEOS Grenadiers 4:40
9  SKJELMOSE Mattias Lidl - Trek 4:51
10  SIVAKOV Pavel UAE Team Emirates 5:12