Another stage at the Volta a Valenciana and another breakaway by a rider from Slipstream-Chipotle.

For the fourth stage in a row, the American squad put a man into the main move in the five-day Valencia tour in Spain. This time it was Lucas Euser showing off the argyle with Antonio Piedra (Contentpolis-Murcia) in more than 100km at the front.

After opening up a gap north of six minutes that made Euser the virtual leader, the pair was caught with about 10km to go in the 175.6km fourth stage starting and finishing in Naquera to set up a hard-fought uphill sprint on a short but steep 300m rising finish.

It looked like Manuel Vázquez (Contentpolis-Murcia) -- winner of Thursday’s controversial stage that saw the peloton become divided between a highway and a frontage road -- was going to make it two in a row. Had he won or finished second, the time bonuses would have put him into the lead.

The pint-sized climber went a tad too early on the steep finish with ramps as steep as 12 percent and misjudged his sprint to settle for fifth, allowing Italian Mirco Lorenzatto (Lampre) to squirt past in the final 50m to snag the victory.

Xavier Florencio (Bouygues Telecom) snagged second with last year’s Het Volk winner Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) came through third.

Overnight leader Rubén Plaza (SL Benfica) survived the manic final attack-riddled kilometer to finish safely in the front bunch to retain the overall lead.

An apparent crash involving Ryder Hesjedal (Slipstream-Chipotle) further complicated an already tricky ascending sprint and the Canadian lost 26 seconds and slipped out of the top 10. Trent Lowe (Slipstream-Chipotle) finished in the front group to slot into 11th at 31 seconds back.

Plaza will carry his slender 5-second lead to Vázquez into Saturday’s 149.4km rolling stage starting and finishing in Valencia to conclude the 66th edition. The course favors a mass sprint, but strong crosswinds, called abanicos in Spanish, could fray the peloton.