Wouter Poels broke away to win the fifth stage of the Tour of Catalonia while Nairo Quintana defended his overall lead ahead of Alberto Contedor and Australia's Richie Porte.
Dutch rider Poels escaped from a small group of front-runners on a mild ascent near the end and finished the mostly downhill 187km stage from Rialp to Valls in just under four hours.
"I was actually really tired at the start, but in the break I was feeling good," Woels said. "I attacked on the last climb to see what would happen."
It was Woels' third stage win of the season.
Dario Cataldo crossed with the rest of the chasers over 10 seconds later.
Quintana and his nearest title rivals Contador and defending champion Porte finished in a group around half a minute off Poel's pace.
The Colombian is now seven seconds ahead of Contador with two stages to go with Porte a further 17 seconds back.
"I expected Contador to try and get back more time," Quintana said.
"With him you always have to be attentive, as we saw today in the intermediate sprint. He won't make it easy for us to win this Tour."
Tour de France winner Chris Froome stayed in eighth and is 46 seconds behind Quintana, who took over the lead in the Pyrenees on Thursday.
Saturday's sixth stage is the longest of the race, a mainly flat 197.2km ride from Sant Joan Despi to Vilanova i la Gertu on the Mediterranean coast.
The week-long race through northeastern Spain ends in Barcelona on Sunday.
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