After 3hour 42min 9sec, the 25-year-old led an Italian one-two with Olympic track cycling champion Filippo Ganna following him across the line.

Today's stage saw riders leave the mountains behind on a flat 177.5km ride from La Bañeza to Íscar.

A four-man breakaway was caught with 20km to go before teams set themselves up for a sprint finish.

Following a final bend, athletes had a straight 2.2km run to the line where Australian Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck had his wheels touched causing him to crash and bring several riders down with him.

"We did a super job," Dainese said.

"Today we executed the plan, 100 per cent.

"It was really unlucky to lose a couple of guys in the crash but until that point I was in the perfect position, I was where I wanted to be.

"I knew there was a bit of a headwind so I just let Ganna and the other guys go a bit early and then I was waiting for my moment to go in the wind.

"I'm super happy to finish a hard Vuelta in this way.

"I really wanted to end the season in a good way and also to end my adventure with DSM in a good way.

"Today I felt a lot of pressure because I knew it was the last opportunity for a sprint. 

"I want to thank my team, they did a good job."

EF Education-EasyPost rider Marijn van den Berg of The Netherlands managed to seal third place moments after the Italians.

American Sepp Kuss of Team Jumbo-Visma finished safely in the peloton to retain the general classification lead.

He has a 17-second lead over team-mate Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark and is two stages away from winning his first Grand Tour.

"These stages are more stressful now because normally I sit at the back and go to the finish line, but now there's a bit more to lose," Kuss said.

"There was always an annoying wind from the side, it wasn't too easy but there's no easy day in the third week.

"Luckily I stayed out of trouble."

The race is set to continue tomorrow with the penultimate stage which sees riders travel 208km from Manzanares el Real to Guadarrama.