Astana Pro Team rider Vincenzo Nibali increased his overall lead at the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday, riding high to a second place finish in the rain and cold of Andorra.

Nibali finished the 155km stage with four categorized climbs from Baga to Collada le la Gallina nearly four minutes behind Italian stage winner Daniele Ratto, but well ahead of nearly all his main rivals for the overall classification. He now leads American rider Chris Horner by 50 seconds and Spain's Alejandro Valverde by 1:42.

"Today the rain was an absolute downpour, and plus it was cold for September in Spain. At the finish the temperature was 7 degrees. The breakaway today did not have one rider closer in the GC than 35 minutes, and so we were not worried by the group in front of us. But on the long mountain climb to Envalira the Katusha Team began to work hard and we followed them," said Astana Pro Team Director Sportif Alexandr Shefer.

"Our goal was to keep time today, because the cumulative effect of riding for more than eight days at the front now means our guys are vulnerable to fatigue. But we didn't expect that other riders would have difficulty, and in the end Nibali had so much support - not just Kangert and Fuglsang, but also Zeits, Tiralongo, Brajkovic - that on the final climb it was a normal effort for him to keep with Horner," Shefer said.

"Tomorrow is hard and the weather is also expected to be more of the same, and also on Monday - we have a good lead now, but this Vuelta will not be finished until the Angliru," Shefer said.

Vincenzo Nibali thinks today was a very hard day:

“Today it’s been hard! I’ve suffered a lot. Slowly but surely, I’ve found myself again. I’ve fought till the end. I’ve made an important step in the overall classification but there are still some riders not far down. I’m pleased with today’s outcome but there are still many hard stages left. At the Vuelta, there’s always something new that might happen, so I prefer to keep my feet on the ground.”