Defending Vuelta a Espana champion Primoz Roglic won stage 11 to reduce the gap to leader Odd Christian Eiking.
Norwegian Eiking took the red jersey from Roglic on Wednesday when the Slovenian crashed during stage 10.
Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux’s Eiking holds a 58-second lead over second place Cofidis rider Guillaume Martin, with Jumbo-Visma’s Roglic 58 seconds further back.
Roglic claimed victory with a stunning attack on the final short, sharp climb.
“It was a hard stage, short but super hot again. I was suffering a lot but luckily I had enough to win at the end,” Roglic said.
“It’s always nice to win – you never know when’ll be your last victory. It was a nice finish with steep uphill, which normally I can do well, so it was a nice challenge and the team did an amazing job, pushing really hard throughout the day.”
Thursday’s stage 12 is from Jaen to Cordoba.
Stage 11 results
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) 3hrs 11mins
2. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) +3secs
3. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Movistar Team) +5secs
4. Jack Haig (Aus/Bahrain Victorious) +7secs
5. Adam Yates (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) Same time
6. Romain Bardet (Fra/Team DSM)
7. Felix Grossschartner (Aut/Bora-Hansgrohe)
8. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus)/Astana-Premier Tech)
9. Egan Bernal Gomez (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +11secs
10. Odd Christian Eiking (Nor/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) Same time
General classification standings after stage 11
1. Odd Christian Eiking (Nor/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) 41hrs 48mins 57secs
2. Guillaume Martin (Fra/Cofidis) +58secs
3. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) +1min 56secs
4. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) +2min 31secs
5. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Movistar Team) +3min 28secs
6. Jack Haig (Aus/Bahrain Victorious) +3min 55secs
7. Egan Bernal Gomez (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +4min 46secs
8. Adam Yates (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +4min 57secs
9. Sepp Kuss (USA/Jumbo-Visma) +5min 3secs
10. Felix Grossschartner (Aut/Bora-Hansgrohe) +5min 38secs
