Quintana in red as Lagutin wins savage stage 8 at La Camperona

Quintana, the pint-sized climber from Movistar, countered an attack from Britain's Chris Froome (Team Sky) on the almost comedic double-digit ramp in the final two kilometres of the 181.5km stage from Villapando.

The 26-year-old never looked back, making light work of the 28% maximum gradient to ride into the red jersey after compatriot Darwin Atapuma (BMC) struggled on the first major test of the 71st edition of the Vuelta.

Quintana leads evergreen Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde, his Movistar team-mate, by 19 seconds in the general classification with Froome – who was caught and passed by both Valverde and rival Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) in the closing metres – in third place at 27 seconds.

Russian veteran Lagutin took the spoils on another sweltering day in north-west Spain, the 35-year-old Katusha domestique using team-mate Jhonatan Restrepo as a springboard to win from an 11-man break which had started the decisive climb with a healthy cushion of almost eight minutes.

His left arm heavily bandaged from a recent fall, Lagutin slapped his forehead in disbelief as he crossed the line and almost came to a complete standstill after securing the biggest win of his long career.

"Finally the dream came true," said Lagutin, who also snared the blue polka dot climber’s jersey with his victory. "I was dreaming since I was little to win a stage of a Grand Tour like the Vuelta. I can't believe it has come true."

With Colombian Restrepo having paved the way after an early attack on the gentler slopes of the climb, Lagutin danced clear of Frenchmen Axel Domont (Ag2R-La Mondiale) and Perrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie) in the final hundred metres to cap a textbook day for Katusha.

Domont took second place 10 seconds behind while Quemeneur held off Italian Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre-Merida) and Belgian Pieter Serry (Etixx-QuickStep) for third.

The remainder of the break – which had formed after 9km on the road and built up a maximum lead of over 10 minutes – trickled over the line in dribs and drabs before Quintana led the rest of the field home for 12th place, almost five minutes down on Lagutin. Quintana finished 25 seconds ahead of Contador and a further eight seconds clear of Froome.

Contador's late surge one day after crashing badly in the chaotic finale to stage 7 saw the Spanish triple champion zip past Froome and steal back some lost time to his big rival. Contador re-entered the top ten and now sits in seventh place on GC, 1:39 behind the new red jersey of Quintana.

Colombia’s Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) had a subdued afternoon but stayed in fourth place, 57 seconds down on Quintana, while Froome’s Czech team-mate Leopold Konig dug deep to move into the top five at 1:16. Atapuma, who finished almost two minutes behind Quintana, drops to sixth place, 1:36 down on his fellow Colombian.

The Vuelta continues on Sunday with the hilly 164.5km stage 9 from Cistierna to Oviedo, concluding with the challenging second-category climb of the Alto del Naranco.