Sir Bradley Wiggins fought off challenges to stretch his lead of the Tour of California with just two stages remaining.
The former Tour de France winner now enjoys a 30-second advantage over Rohan Dennis after a testing sixth stage, which included a punishing summit finish at Mountain High after 156.1km in the saddle.
Colombia's Johan Esteban Chaves attacked on the final climb to win the stage from Spain's David de la Cruz Melgarejo and home rider American Tom Danielson.
But British pair Adam Yates and Wiggins, finished fourth and fifth respectively.
“The boys really did a fantastic job and they really put me in a good position near the finish,” said Wiggins.
“I was really just monitoring Team Garmin-Sharp and Rohan Dennis. It wasn’t until the final 300 metres when I noticed there were only four us left in the chase group.”
This race concludes on Sunday but the profile of the two remaining stages means Wiggins and his Team Sky team-mates should be able to defend their yellow jersey position.
© Sportsbeat 2014