Woods featured in a breakaway group which stayed away on the 157 kilometre stage, which began in Getxo.

The EF Education First-Drapac rider headed into the final climb battling Belgium’s Dylan Teuns, Spain’s David de la Cruz and Poland’s Rafal Majka.

Woods and Teuns would ultimately battle for the stage win, with the Canadian coming out on top in the closing kilometre to triumph in a time of 4 hours, 9min and 48sec.

Teuns ended five seconds off the pace, with De la Cruz a further five back.

“It’s a special moment for me, I was very moved on the finish line,” Woods said.

“My coach was in the car and in the final 500 metres he told me on the radio to think about my family.

“My wife was pregnant for 37 weeks and we lost the kid.

“We were going to name him Hunter.

“My wife also lost her father one month ago.

“It’s been a very hard year, I was cracked on the finish line.

“I tried to stay calm, I tried to think of my family and to think of my little Hunter as an inspiration.”

In the general classification group, Colombia’s Nario Quintana saw any remaining hope of claiming the overall title all but slip away.

The Colombian was dropped on the final climb, with the time losses seeing his challenge take another blow.

His Movistar team-mate Alejandro Valverde looks set to go head-to-head with Britain’s Simon Yates in the remainder of the race.

The Spaniard finished eight seconds clear of Yates on the stage, along with fellow Spanish rider Enric Mas.

Yates remains in the overall race lead, but has only a 25 second gap to Valverde.

Mas moved into third place but is 1:22 off the pace of the overall leader.

Racing will continue tomorrow with a 186km stage to Lleida.