Froome on a Vuelta high in the mountains

Miguel Angel Lopez became the Vuelta's latest first-time winner but the Chris Froome procession has continued on a brutal mountain stage.

Chris Froome has extended his overall Vuelta a Espana lead after finishing second on stage 11. (AAP)

Chris Froome has tightened his grasp on the Vuelta a Espana title after coming second in the high mountain stage and opening a gap of 1 minute, 19 seconds in the general classification.

Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez won the stage, his first victory in a grand tour, to move into the top 10 at the expense of Ireland's Nicolas Roche, who began the day third overall and 36 seconds off the pace but ended it 4:45 behind Froome.

The Briton made up time in the gruelling stage from Lorca to Calar Alto in Andalusia - which featured 3490m of climbing and finished 2120m above sea level - with a late dash from the back to the front of the chasing pack behind Lopez.

Froome beat Dutchman Wilco Kelderman and Italy's Vincenzo Nibali to finish 14 seconds behind Lopez and take a six-second bonus in his bid to become the first rider since 1978 to win the Vuelta-Tour de France double.

"I'm very happy with the outcome today. I think it was a very selective day for the general classification, and to finish second, I couldn't have asked for much more than that other than a stage victory," four-time Tour de France champion Froome said.

"When Lopez went, he was extremely strong and at the top, I figured for me the most important thing was going to be to follow Vincenzo and to stay with the real favourites."

Nibali overtook Esteban Chaves as Froome's nearest challenger and moved into second place overall, with the Colombian dropping from 36 seconds behind Froome before the stage to 2:33 adrift in third.

"It was a very complicated stage with the rain, which made it even more exhausting, but I'm really happy because the team has worked so well through the Vuelta," Lopez said.

"This is a big achievement. In the end we found ourselves with good legs, and I knew a bit of the final part so I was relaxed. I preferred to wait to attack until the last one or one-and-a-half kilometres, which were really hard."