The peloton had been due to ride a 199 kilometre route from Saint Cugat to Vallter.

Poor weather conditions on the final climb saw organisers take the decision to reduce the stage to 153km, however.

Lotto Soudal's De Gendt would form part of an early breakaway group on the day.

He was joined by France's Clement Chevrier and Spain's Lluis Mas on a climber friendly stage.

They were later joined by Spain's Mikel Bizkarra and Pablo Torres, with the leaders opening up a lead of over two minutes.

De Gendt would attack on the final climb of the day at 21km to go, with the Belgian heading solo towards the finish.

With just 10km left to go, De Gendt's advantage was reduced to around 50 seconds with France's Thibaut Pinot, Colombia's Nairo Quintana, Britain's Simon Yates and Switzerland's Mathias Frank launching a four-man chase group.

They would utlimately fall short as De Gendt held on to claim victory in a time of 4 hours, 14min and 48sec.

Yates was next across the line at 20 seconds down, with the chase group having been caught by the peloton by the finish.

The stage win also saw De Gendt move into the race lead, with the Belgian boasting a 23 second advantage over Spain's Alejandro Valverde, the race leader at the start of the day.

South Africa's Daryl Impey and Yates are 29 seconds off the lead.

Racing will continue tomorrow at the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour race with a 170km stage from Llanars to La Molina.

The UCI Women's WorldTour will resume tomorrow, with the fourth race of the top tier season.

The one-day Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde will be held in Belgium, with riders tackling a 151km route from Brugge to De Panne.

Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma, the Women's WorldTour leader, will not be taking to the start of the new race on the top tier calendar.

The race is expected to end in a sprint finish.