Marczynski clocked a time of 3 hours 56min 45sec to win by 52 seconds on the 160.1 kilometres route from Motril to Antequera.

It secured the Lotto–Soudal rider his second stage victory in this year's race.

Spaniards Omar Fraile Matarranza of Dimension Data and José Joaquín Rojas Gil of Movistar Team finished second and third respectively.

They were among a quartet of cyclists who finished 52 seconds behind along with Poland’s Pawel Poljanski and The Netherlands’ Stef Clement.

Team Sky’s Froome crashed twice in the last six kilometres and was forced to swap his bike after a heavy fall.

It gave second-placed Vincenzo Nibali of Italy the opportunity to make up ground on four-time Tour de France winner, who now leads the general classification by 59 seconds.

Froome is bidding to become only the third man to win the Tour de France and Vuelta in the same season.

He lost 20 seconds after coming off his bike.

"It's never nice to crash like that, but I'm just grateful that I'm not injured and everything is good to go tomorrow," Froome, told Spanish television station Teledeporte en directo.

"It's never nice to lose time, but I have a fantastic team around me.

"I had two team-mates with me all the way to the end.

"The Vuelta is not over yet and there are a lot of big days ahead.

"The race is not over until we reach Madrid.

"I just need to be at my best every day now."

Prior to today’s race, Irish team Aqua Blue Sport had their bus destroyed in an apparent arson attack.

The team had parked their bus outside their hotel in Almeria but by the morning it had been damaged beyond repair.

"Our team bus has been completely damaged in a cowardly arson attack overnight," they tweeted.

"No one was injured.

"Police have arrested a suspect."

Race organisers provided a replacement for today’s stage.

Tomorrow’s 13th stage is due to the riders travel 198.4km from Coín to Tomares.

The race is scheduled to finish in Madrid on September 10.