Froome, the Team Sky rider who won his second Tour de France last month following an earlier victory in 2013, was distanced by a pack jammed with leading names in the closing stages of the 191 kilometres stage from La Alpujarra to Jódar. 

This prompted Italian rival Fabio Aru to lauch a stinging breakaway attack, ending up 34 seconds ahead of Froome and third overall on the stage.

Colombian Nairo Quintana and Spaniard Alejandro Valverde finished in a group six seconds behind Aru, along with Quintana's compatriot the overall race leader Esteban Chaves. 

Froome finished 17th place to drop out of the overall top 10.

Further ahead, it was third time lucky for 26-year-old Lindeman, who was part of the breakaways in two previous stages before sprinting to a first victory of the season - and only the seventh scalp for his LottoNL-Jumbo team.

He pulled clear of Belarus' Ilia Koshevoy after fellow escapee Jerome Cousin of France had crashed with 500 metres remaining.

“For me it was unexpected, it was an uphill finish with the general classification guys behind and Ilia [Koshevoy] was really strong,” the day's winner said.

“It was really, really special.

"In the beginning of the season we [his LottoNL-Jumbo team] had lots of bad luck but we still fight, every race is important, and now we have a major victory and that’s really nice.”

Tomorrow's 182.5km stage from Puebla de Don Fadrique to Murcia should offer some brief respite from the climbs ahead of four mountain stages next week.

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