Daniele Ratto wins Tour of Spain stage; Vincenzo Nibali still leads overall

ITALIAN Daniele Ratto broke away to seal the 14th stage of the Tour of Spain in bad weather as compatriot Vincenzo Nibali extended his lead overall.

Nibali battles rain to extend tour lead

ITALIAN rider Daniele Ratto broke away to seal the 14th stage of the Tour of Spain in awful weather conditions on Saturday as his compatriot Vincenzo Nibali extended his lead in the overall classification.

Cannondale's Ratto led from start to finish on the 155.7km ride from Baga to Andorra as he was part of an early five-man breakaway group and then took to the front on his own with over 40km to go to finish ahead of Astana's Nibali and American Christopher Horner.

RadioShack's Horner and Nibali were the big winners in the overall race standings as the American moved ahead of Ireland's Nicholas Roche and Spaniard Alejandro Valverde into second place while Nibali extended his lead to 50 seconds.

Two-time Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso was forced to withdraw suffering from hypothermia in the heavy rain and cold.

"Ivan Basso had to withdraw from the Vuelta after descent from Envalira. He was frozen at the limit of hypothermia," his Cannondale team confirmed on their Twitter profile.

The Italian had been lying in seventh place in the general classification.

Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez (Belkin) was also forced to withdraw due to hypothermia earlier in the day having been leading the stage early on as part of the five-man breakaway.