1. Marco di Renzo (Italy) Cantina 4.53.54 2. Ignacio Garcia Camacho (Spain) Kelme s.t. 3. Angel Edo (Spain) Kelme 4.46 4. Massimiliano Mori (Italy) Saeco 5. Fabio Baldato (Italy) MG 6. Paolo Valoti (Italy) Cantina 7. Martin Hvastija (Slovenia) Cantina 8. Pascal Chanteur (France) Petit Casino 9. Nicola Minali (Italy) Gewiss 10. Giuseppe Citterio (Italy) AKI 11. Biagio Conte (Italy) Scrigno 12. Jurgen Werner (Germany) Telekom 13. Peter Meinert (Denmark) Telekom 14. Denis Zanette (Italy) AKI 15. Santos Gonzalez (Spain) Kelme 16. Yvan Martin (France) Lotus 17. Melchor Mauri (Spain) ONCE 18. Marcel Wust (Germany) MX Onda 19. Andrei Zintchenko (Russia) Santa Clara 20. Neil Stephen (Australia) ONCE all s.t.
1. Alex Zuelle (Switzerland) ONCE 47.44.47 2. Miguel Indurain (Spain) Banesto 1.04 3. Laurent Jalabert (France) ONCE 1:14 4. Mauri 1:51 5. Stephens 2:37 6. Roberto Pistore (Italy) MG 4:00 7. Laurent Dufaux (Switzerland) Lotus 4:24 8. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spain) ONCE 5:00 9. Stefano Faustini (Italy) AKI 5:14 10. Inigo Cuesta (Spain) ONCE 5:17 11. Vladislav Bobrik (Russia) Gewiss 6:00 12. Bobby Julich (USA) Motorola 6:10 13. Davide Rebellin (Italy) Polti 6:42 14. Hermino Diaz Zabala (Spain) ONCE 6:47 15. Georg Tostching (Austria) Polti 6.56 16. Stefano Zanini (Italy) Gewiss 7:12 17. Maarten Den Bakker (Netherlands) TVM 7:26 18. Jurgen Werner (Germany) Telekom 7:33 19. Alvaro Galdeano (Spain) Euskadi 7:36 20. Massimo Apollonio (Italy) Scrigno s.t.
Alex Zuelle of Switzerland retained the overall race lead, with Spain's Miguel Indurain and Frenchman Laurent Jalabert just over a minute behind in second and third places.
All the earlier stages, apart from Tuesday's time-trial, had ended in mass sprints.
On Wednesday, in the final kilometre, Di Renzo surged ahead of Spaniard Ignacio Garcia Camacho, his partner in a breakaway which had started near the beginning of the 197-km stage.
It was Di Renzo's most important win and just reward after several earlier stages in which he had struggled to lead breakaways in difficult terrain and conditions.
For a time the pack seemed to try to haul in the pair, who stretched their lead to nearly 13 minutes. But they gradually appeared to lose interest in the chase and the gap was still more than eight minutes just 30 kms from the line.
Affected by head and side winds and the movement from rough narrow roads to smoother surfaces, the pack was broken at several stages. But all the chief contenders arrived together, more than 4-1/2 minutes behind in provisional timings.
The Vuelta moves to the Asturian coast for Thursday's 188-km 12th stage between Benavente and the classic mountain finish at Alto del Naranco.
Several riders have decided to pull out, notably Italy's Francesco Casagrande, who rode a bad time-trial on Tuesday and has decided to return home to prepare for the forthcoming world championships.
Alex Zulle of Switzerland retained the overall leader's pink jersey.
Di Renzo, 27, recording his second career stage victory, beat fellow escapee Ignacio Garcia Camacho of Spain. Both men had broken from the peloton at the start of the third category climb to de Menga, 20km after the start of the stage.
The peloton, who finished almost five minutes behind the duo, were happy to let the two riders escape as both are well down the overall standings.
It gave the stars a chance to rest after Tuesday's time-trial and ahead of Thursday's stage, which includes the first premier category climb of the tour.
"Tuesday's stage was very hard and we all tried to recuperate a bit. Di Renzo and Garcia Camacho both went off fast and good for them," said Miguel Indurain, the five-time winner of the Tour de France who remained in second place overall.
Thursday's 12th stage is the 191.7 km ride from Benavente to Alto del Naranco. It includes three third category climbs and finishes on "Naranco", the first category climb.