The Bora-Hansgrohe star claimed his third stage victory in this year’s race after outpacing other members of a group which had gone clear in the course of the final categorised climb.

Schachmann finished in 4hr 03min 55sec, with Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates, Jakob Fuglsang of Astana and Adam Yates of Mitchelton-Scott taking the next three places.

Team Sunweb’s Swiss rider Marc Hirschi finished fifth in the latest stage of this International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour race.

The German thus extended his lead in the general classification as he holds a 51-second advantage over team-mate Patrick Konrad in second, with an overall time of 12hr 38min 16sec.

His task on the day was made simpler by the withdrawal of two favourites for this title – France’s second-stage winner Julian Alaphilippe of Deceuninck-Quick-Step and Team Sky’s Michal Kwiatkowski – after they had suffered cuts and bruises in a pile-up near the end of yesterday’s third stage.

The Frenchman scratched overnight and Kwiatkowski dropped out during the course of today’s 163.6km trip in damp conditions from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Arrigorriaga, just outside Bilbao.

Spain’s Ion Izagirre, riding for Astana, is one second behind Konrad in the overall standings at 52 sec and Colombia’s Daniel Martinez, of EF Education First, is at 1min 07sec.

But Schachmann faces another battle to keep the lead tomorrow, with the penultimate day of racing featuring a number of first and third-category climbs on the 149.8km run from Arrigorriaga to Arrate.