Rabobank's Luis Leon Sanchez edged out breakaway companion Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) to take victory in the sixth stage of Paris-Nice.
The duo fought out the win after being the only survivors from a seven-man break over the 178.5 kilometre test from Suze-la-Rousse to Sisteron.
Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda) crossed the line third after winning the sprint from the main group, while Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins retained the leader's yellow jersey after finishing safely in the peloton 14 seconds behind Sanchez.
The controlled finish was in contrast to a hectic start of the day which saw the group split after just six kilometres of racing, with Wiggins and most of the major contenders making it to the front group of 28 riders.
The leaders maintained a gap of just over half a minute for several kilometres but the peloton was eventually brought back together and when the action finally settled down, the break of the day was formed.
Sanchez, Voigt, Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil-DCM), Mikael Cherel (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Anthony Geslin (FDJ-BigMat) Simon Geschke (Project 1t4i) and Daniel Navarro (Saxo Bank) worked together and managed to stretch their lead out to a maximum of 3:45.
Sanchez was at that point almost the virtual leader on the road but Team Sky soon took control at the front of the peloton and brought the gap back down.
Veuchelen, already in the polka dot jersey at the start of the day, took maximum points in the first four categorised climbs of the day to extend his advantage in the mountains competition.
Team Sky took a back seat when the threat of Sanchez gaining any meaningful time was eliminated and the rest of the interested teams were not able to reel in the break.
On the final climb of the Cote des Marquises Sanchez put in an early dig, taking Voigt and Cherel with him, with the German then putting in an attack of his own which dropped Cherel.
Voigt and Sanchez came into the finish together and the latter just proved to be the strongest in the two-up sprint.