Team Sky's illness-hit squad battled through to the finish of the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España which was won by Igor Antón.

The Euskaltel rider proved strongest on a brutal uphill finish in Valdepeñas de Jaén, timing his attack to perfection on the final climb, which ramped up to a 27% gradient in places, as he kicked clear of a 21-man front group with 400 metres to go.

Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Peter Velits (HTC-Columbia) had both closed to within a second when the line came but had to settle for second and third respectively.

But for Team Sky's remaining seven riders it was all about survival after sickness had swept through the camp in the previous 48 hours.

John-Lee Augustyn and Ben Swift were forced to abandon during Monday's third stage and nearly all the remaining seven riders were still badly affected 24 hours later - but they bravely clung on until the finish at the end of the hilly 183.8km stage from Málaga which featured three category-rated climbs.

Lars Petter Nordhaug led them home in 44th place, three minutes and five seconds down, while the other six riders finished between 14:36 and 25:14 behind Antón.

Uphill struggle

Simon Gerrans, one of the worst affected, summed up how tough it had been for them when he tweeted: "I thought I was right this morning, but damn was I wrong. I just spent another day spewing in Spain."

It was a similar case elsewhere as team principal Dave Brailsford explained: "Thomas (Löfkvist) and Kjell (Carlström) went down with it today. Kjell in particular had a torrid day, riding the last 5km on his own to somehow finish the stage.

"Pretty much everyone has had it now - Lars-Petter finished relatively high up today but even he's not 100% and was complaining about his stomach this morning.

"It's so hard to try and deal with the race and expect your body to recover from the illness - it really is a major battle to survive in the race. I can't convey enough just how much the guys are suffering and that them staying in the race is a feat itself."

Sad day for the sport

At the head of the race Antón's efforts weren't quite enough to put him in the leader's red jersey as Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma - Lotto) finished in fifth, just five seconds behind. That means the Belgian tops the general classification by 10 seconds from Antón and Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha).

On a day which was overshadowed by the news that former Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon had died from cancer at the age of 50, a four-man break had gone clear 16 kilometres into the stage.

Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R), Sergio Carrasco (Andalucía), Dario Cataldo (Quick-Step) and Dominik Roels (Milram) were the quartet in question and their advantage topped six minutes at one point.

However they never looked like staying clear and Bonnafond and Cataldo were the last two to be reeled in 13km from the finish as they battled up the category two-rated Alto de Valdepeñas de Jaén.

The peloton splintered on that ascent and one of the big losers was Cervélo's Carlos Sastre who came in one minute and 34 seconds behind Antón.

Antón had launched his late attack on the energy-sapping but unranked final climb up the narrow streets of Valdepeñas de Jaén to win in a time of five hours and 29 seconds.

Initially it appeared as though Rigoberto Urán might take the spoils as he launched a solo break with 1.5km to go.

He could not hold on though, and the Caisse d'Epargne rider was caught on the final straight after the course had flattened out a bit. Then it was the turn of Antón to make his move, and he left the other riders trailing in his wake to become the first Spanish stage winner of this year's Vuelta.

Wednesday's fifth stage sees the riders race from Guadix to Lorca, a distance of 198.8 kilometres.