Poels escaped from a day-long breakaway with about 15km remaining in the 187.2km Volta a Catalunya stage that started in Rialp, then held off a chasing group of four riders that included Dario Cataldo (Astana), Gaetan Bille (Wanty - Groupe Gobert), Kanstantsin Siutsou (Dimension Data) and Carlos Verona (Etixx - Quick-Step).
The field, led across the line more than half a minute later by Simon Gerrans (Orica-Greenedge), included Nairo Quintana, who held onto his overall lead despite intermediate sprint efforts from Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) that netted time bonuses of three and one second, respectively.
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