The Colombian dealt a body blow to the Tour de France victor when he joined a breakaway with Alberto Contador in the early kilometres of stage 15.
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“If we can get a bigger difference (before the time trial) it would be ideal to be able to prepare for the rest of the stages more comfortably before Madrid”, said Quintana.
Italy s Gianluca Brambilla edged out Quintana at the finish in a time of 2hrs 54mins 30secs to take the stage win with Fabio Felline third.
The 21-stage race ends in Madrid on September 11.
Colombian Johan Esteban Chaves remains third, a further 20 sec behind Froome, while Contador jumped from sixth to fourth and within sight of a podium finish.
Quintana and Froome had completed the last two stages together but it quickly became clear that the stage from Sabinanigo to Sallent de Gallego would be different.
With six of his teammates at the back of the race the Brit was stranded. “We knew how to suffer at the start, we went with Alberto, and with his team and my team we pressed ahead”, added Quintana.
The gap came down to less than two minutes on the long descent off the back of the Alto de Cotefablo before stretching out again once the leaders embarked on the final climb.
“It happened like this because Alberto is also a great strategist, we united and took advantage”.
Alejandro Valverde conceded his dreams of a second Vuelta a Espana title are over after he slipped 10 minutes behind Nairo Quintana following stage 14.
Instead, Froome had to rely on Astana, despite the Kazak team having no rider in general classification contention, to set the pace for most of the stage just to keep the gap from extending beyond three minutes.
Many on the road were fortunate to still be in the race, after more than 90 riders were reprieved from expulsion after Stage 15 despite coming home way outside the time limit, per Cycling Today.
“My calendar and Froome’s has been pretty similar, in terms of wear and tear, this season, and also my legs feel exhausted at this point of the year… but I hope to keep it going into this final week, hopefully better than Chris, to conserve this leader’s jersey”.
“We opened a gap, we kept it high and at the final climb, I gave everything to keep Chris well behind”.
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With the three-day mountain marathon over, Monday’s stage is a flat 156.4-kilometer (97.1-mile) from Alcaniz to Peniscola.
