Britain's Chris Froome held on to his overall lead in the Criterium du Dauphine after a hotly-contested fifth stage on Thursday.
Froome remains 12 seconds clear of Alberto Contador, but the day's main beneficiary was Wilco Kelderman of the Netherlands, who clawed back nine seconds off his overall time with a second place finish to move level with Contador.
The 189.5km stage from Sisteron to La Mure saw Slovenia's Simon Spilak take a second successive stage win for Katusha, following the previous day's victory by Yury Trofimov of Russia.
Spilak crossed the line alone, well clear of Kelderman and Britain's Adam Yates, who were both 14sec adrift, with the chasing pack, Sky rider Froome and Spain's Contador among them, three seconds further back.
At one point, Froome looked in danger of losing his lead to his Spanish rival, as Contador set off on a breakaway 30km from home on the descent from the Col de la Morte.
Contador moved clear only for Froome's Sky team to reel him in over the final run-in and Froome finished two places ahead of the Spaniard in a mass dash for the line.
Spilak, 27, recorded his second success of the season, after winning a mountain stage on the Tour of Romandie, where he finished second overall.
Friday's sixth stage takes the riders on a 178.5 ride from Grenoble to Poisy, near Annecy.
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