The 22-year-old moved into contention for the overall victory at the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Tour race yesterday, when he finished as the runner-up to the United States’ Tejay van Garderen in Sölden.

It saw him move to just 21 seconds off the race leader Warren Barguil of France, but Lopez’s time trialling ability was in evidence today in Bravos.

He completed the route in a time of 21min and 49sec to ignite his challenge for the race lead, but it would only prove enough for him to finish as the runner-up for the second consecutive day.

Spain’s Jon Izaguirre ultimately celebrated the stage win, after the 27-year-old produced a stunning ride to finish 18 seconds clear of Lopez in the time trial.

Home favourite Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland ended a further second behind Lopez in third, while former race leader Wilco Kelderman of The Netherlands ended 21 seconds adrift of Izaguirre.

Lopez, though, ultimately moved into the race lead with Barguil having struggled significantly to lose almost a minute.

The Colombian will head into the final stage eight seconds ahead of the United States’ Andrew Talansky, while Izaguirre’s stage win helped move him up to third, 16 seconds off the pace.

Barguil could still threaten as the Frenchman is only 18 seconds down in fourth.

A 117km mountain stage in Davos will draw the race to a close.