Chris Froome's hopes of a Tour de France-Vuelta a Espana double were placed under serious threat on Friday when he lost vital time as Bert-Jan Lindeman won stage seven.

The Team Sky leader - who claimed his second Tour win in July - was dropped by the peloton in the closing kilometres from Jodar to La Alpujarra, Astana's Fabio Aru the man to cause his pain.

As Froome struggled, Lindeman secured his maiden Grand Tour stage win, the LottoNL-Jumbo rider negotiating the first gruelling climb of this year's race and turning an early breakaway into victory.

Lindeman's attack proved decisive on the category one climb as he left behind fellow breakaway riders Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida) and Jerome Cousin (Europcar) to take glory.

Behind him Aru was the star performer from within the general classification contenders, the Astana rider pulling clear of his rivals to claim third place.

His efforts saw Froome fall one minute and 22 seconds behind overall leader Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) - who maintained his 10-second lead over Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin).

After a handful of attempted breaks, five men made their attack stick and slowly built up a 10-minute advantage as the peloton maintained a watching brief.

Having come over the first category climb of the day – Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) taking the King of the Mountains points – the leaders were able to extend their advantage on the descent of Puerto de los Blancares.

It grew to 13 minutes before the peloton began to reel them in, Aru's Astana team-mates working well for him at the front.

As the 191.1-kilometre stage reached its final, brutal climb - the toughest of the Vuelta so far in 2015 - the lead five appeared set to contest the stage win.

La Alpujarra's gruelling 19km ascent, with gradients reaching 14 per cent at times, eventually began to kick in and Lindeman, Koshevoy and Cousin were able to push clear.

Lindeman watched as his rivals pushed for home, but it was the Dutchman who prevailed as he escaped to take the win.

Behind that trio, Aru's attack had impacts within the peloton as Froome was dropped, the Briton losing 34 seconds as he struggled to live with the Italian's pace.

Overall leader Chaves was not to be denied another day in red, though, as he finished just behind Aru within the peloton.