Alberto Contador made light of a late mechanical to retain the overall lead at the Criterium du Dauphine as an audacious late attack from Fabio Aru thwarted the sprinters on stage three.
Aru (Astana) attacked alone with 12km to go after Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) had already launched an escape attempt before being reeled in to form a select eight-man group.
Italy's Aru, who had also attacked on the category two Cote de Secheras, was never more than 13 seconds clear of the chasing pack but kept his slim margin and held off the charging sprinters' teams to win.
Norway's Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was two seconds behind in second place and Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek-Segafredo) was third.
Ireland's Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon) was sixth, his second top-ten of the week following a third-place result on Monday.
Contador was forced into a bike change in the final kilometres, swapping with a Tinkoff team-mate, before returning to the peloton and finished in 39th place, also two seconds behind Aru.
Spain's Contador still leads by six seconds from Australia's Richie Porte (BMC), with Team Sky's Chris Froome third, seven seconds further back.
Ireland's Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) is fourth, 21 seconds behind.
Aru, who won the 2015 Vuelta a Espana, is targeting the Tour de France this summer and was trying to make amends after losing one minute 27 seconds to Contador in the opening three days.
Thursday's 176km fourth stage from Tain-l'Hermitage to Belley is another one for the sprinters, before three mountain stages to the race's conclusion on Sunday.
