Egan Bernal put in a strong climbing performance in the mountains of stage 19 at the Giro d'Italia - retaining sixth place overall.
The Colombian champion worked hard to remain within a select general classification group across one of the toughest parcours of the race.
Sixth place at the line and fifth from the GC group was enough to ensure Bernal retained his overall position heading into Saturday's final mountain showdown.
With Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) taking a solo victory from the breakaway out front, Bernal finished in a group 24 seconds back on leader Issac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost).
Bernal now sits 5:13 back on the lead, but with all still to be decided in the top positions.
Jonathan Castroviejo played a superb supporting role to his teammate in the mountains, on a day which included passages over the Col Saint-Pantaleon and Col de Joux.
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Egan Bernal: "My tactic was to survive. It was a super hard stage and it will accumulate a lot of fatigue for tomorrow.
"I don't know what will happen tomorrow but for sure the strongest will win."