Madrid, Sep 8 (IANS): Polish rider Przsemslav Niemiec won stage 15 of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race here.

Niemiec was able to hold on during the famous climb to the Lakes of Covadonga to finish seconds ahead of race favourites, Alejandro Valverde, Alberto Contador and Joaquin Rodriguez, who in turn were ahead of third placed Chris Froome at the top of the climb Sunday, reports Xinhua.

The day was made even more complicated by intermittent rain, which chilled the air and made the roads slippery and dangerous on the descent of the second category Puerto de Torno, situated around 40 km from the finish.

The riders took the descent with much greater care than normal considering the risks of trying to gain a few seconds advantage were far outweighed by the possibilities of a race ending fall.

That set up the final climb up to the Lakes of Covadonga, a 12.6 km climb with an average gradient of 7.6 percent, but including a tough half kilometre section midway though with ramps of 15 percent.

The Spanish trio of Contador, Rodriguez and Valverde all attacked around halfway through the climb as Froome found the going hard.

However, the British rider remained calm, maintained a constant rhythm and slowly but surely drew level with the trio, before Contador attacked again with just under four km remaining with Valverde and Rodriguez again in pursuit as Froome again saw the gap open before agonisingly closing it again.

Valverde used his finish speed to clip a handful of seconds from Contador in the closing metres, while Rodriguez remains in contention and Froome will be happy with the way he kept himself in contention.

Monday is perhaps the most decisive stage of the race with five first category climbs which could go a long way to deciding the eventual winner.