Daniel Navarro was rewarded for his daring late dart with victory on stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana on Friday, while Irishman Dan Martin finished five seconds behind him in ninth place after a daring break.

The 188.7-kilometre hilly stage from Belorado to Obregon finished among the wildlife of Cabarceno Natural Park.

Spain's Navarro (Cofidis) escaped from the pack inside the final 3km and won by two seconds from Daniel Moreno (Katusha) and third-placed Wilco Kelderman (Belkin).

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) was five seconds behind in seventh to retain the leader's red jersey, with Martin (Garmin-Sharp) alongside him. The Irishman remains 11th, three minutes and 59 seconds behind leader Contador, after the top rankings stayed largely unchanged.

With little more than 7km to go the Orica-GreenEdge-led peloton swept up the remnants of the day's breakaway as the action began in earnest, with a challenging 750m ramp in the final 3km. Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Gianluca Brambilla was the first aggressor and Navarro exploded after him before surging into the lead.

Martin followed, pulling the overall contenders along behind him, before Chris Froome (Team Sky) took the initiative. Like the Irishman before him the Briton was closely marked and the posturing of the overall contenders played into Navarro's hands as he celebrated victory.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who is second overall, was fourth, while Froome was 13th to sit fourth entering Saturday's 14th stage.

The 200.8km route from Santander to the finishing ascent of La Camperona is one for the red jersey hopefuls to flex their muscles once more.

Nairo Quintana had hoped to be contending for the Vuelta title, but is now recovering from shoulder surgery. The Colombian rider has now been discharged from hospital in Pamplona, his Movistar team have announced.

Ireland's Philip Deignan (+50' 50'') of Sky is 60th overall after coming home in 90th today.