Froome endured a dismal stage the day before, finishing two minutes 40 seconds behind victor Gianluca Brambilla and two minutes 37 seconds down on Quintana, allowing the Colombian to tighten his grip on the red jersey.
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Quintana maintained his advantage of 3 minutes, 37 seconds over Britain’s Chris Froome at the end of the 156.4-kilometer (97.1-mile) run from Alcaniz to Peniscola.
Johan Esteban Chaves stays third and 20 seconds off Froome, with five stages remaining of the Tour, which finishes on Sunday September 11.
Quintana and Spaniard Alberto Contador attempted various early attacks before forming a breakaway group within the first 10km of the 118.5 km stage.
Three-time Tour of Spain victor Contador eventually trailed off towards the finish, coming home 34 seconds behind Brambilla in sixth place. I saw Contador was starting to fade and I had to follow Nairo.
Froome will still have the individual time trial, one of his strengths, on stage 19 to look toward.
Drucker was among more than 90 riders who were allowed to remain in the race despite finishing outside the maximum time allowed behind the leaders in the previous stage, which racing officials said was atypical.
It was a remarkable day at the Vuelta a España on Sunday, where 90 riders could have been ejected from the race for missing the time cut, including almost all of the Team Sky squad. “Jasper and Emiel rode like champions today and were rewarded with the jersey for Bovenhuis”. It was also great to see all our riders in the first group across the line.
Brambilla took the stage win, while Quintana, who finished 2mins 40secs ahead of Froome, now has a commanding overall lead of 3mins 37secs.
The day’s breakaway worked well and provided Bovenhuis with the platform to take maximum points at the three Yodel Sprints in Glasgow, Kilmarnock and Dalmellington.
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With six of his teammates at the back of the race the Brit was stranded.
