Primoš Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) took another step toward defending his Vuelta a España title.

With 3km remaining in the 230.8km stage from Moss to Puebla de Sanabria, organizers took the step of timing the overall due to the wet conditions of the day and the oil film on the road surface reported in the last few kilometers.

Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck-Quickstep), who had escaped from the breakaway, looked like he had a good shot at a stage win, but a strong headwind hit him in the last 10km and the chasing pack split in the "safe zone" in the last 3km.

It was UAE Team Emirates' Jasper Philipsen, making his first Grand Tour appearance, who took the stage win ahead of Bora-Hansgrohe's Pascal Ackermann and Cattaneo's Dečuninck-Quick Step teammate Jannik Steimle.

As a result, Roglic maintained a 39-second advantage over Richard Karapas (Ineos Grenadiers) to take the GC lead.

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) mathematically took the blue and white polka-dot jersey as the best climber of the Vuelta, having scored full points in four of the five third classics of stage 15: Astana's Alexandre Vlasov is in second place by 5:25.