Quintana held a seven second lead over Spain’s Alberto Contador heading into a hilly conclusion to the race, which would see the peloton tackle eight circuits of the Montjuic Park in Barcelona.

The Colombian star, who won the Giro d’Italia in 2014, was expecting to be attacked by his key rivals including Britain’s Chris Froome and the United States’ Tejay Van Garderen.

With the moves from the key contenders expected to come in the closing stages of the race, a 12-man breakaway was able to escape early on the 197 kilometre route from Sant Joan Despí to Vilanova i la Geltrú.

Spain’s Louis Mas, Slovenia’s Matej Mohoric and Tsatevich were among those to feature in the break, with Mas looking to go clear inside the final 50 kilometres of the day.

Their gap, which at one stage was at over three minutes, gradually was eaten into as first Froome and then Italy’s Fabio Aru launched attacks from the peloton.

Due to the two riders, who are both Grand Tour winners, presenting a danger to Quintana, the Movistar team worked well to cancel out both attacks to help protect their team leader’s advantage.

Ultimately Quitana was able to celebrate the overall victory, after the main contenders crossed the finish line in Barcelona together, 14 seconds down on the remaining two breakaway riders.

The Russian sprinter Tsatevich, who narrowly missed out on stage victories earlier in the Volta, eventually was able to defeat his fellow breakaway companion Mohoric in the final kilometre to claim the win in three hours, 13min and 33sec.

Quintana was crowned as the overall winner in a combined time of 30:50:19, with Contador remaining seven seconds behind.

Ireland’s Dan Martin, the stage three winner, edged out 2015 winner Richie Porte from the final podium despite finishing level with the Australian, 17 seconds behind Quintana.

Belgium’s Thomas De Gendt was crowned the winner of the mountains classification, while Britain’s Hugh Carthy won the best young rider title.

The team classification was won by BMC Racing.