Primoz Roglic took a step closer to winning the Vuelta a España with a strong second-place finish on the 18th stage, increasing his overall lead entering the final stretch of the three-week race.

Colombian Sergio Higuita won the 177.5km (110.3-mile) stage after breaking away and fending off a late charge by Roglic and Alejandro Valverde. It was the first Grand Tour stage win for the 22-year-old rider from team EF Education First.

Roglic, a former ski jumper from Slovenia riding for Jumbo-Visma, increased his lead to 2min 50sec going into the final two competitive stages before the finale in Madrid on Sunday.

“I didn’t have any energy left, but I had my heart set on those dreams I’ve chased for so long,” Higuita said. “I was very emotional at the finish line because there were so many Colombian fans there.”

Primoz Roglic pips Alejandro Valverde to second place on the line. Photograph: Óscar del Pozo/AFP/Getty Images

“It was another hard day and the team was super strong again,” Roglic said. “We need to continue our good job. Every day is important, we learned our lesson yesterday and I expect ‘full gas’ racing every day.”

Valverde, the veteran Spaniard from Movistar, moved back up to second overall after being edged into a third-place finish on the line by Roglic. Nairo Quintana, Valverde’s teammate, had been 2min 24sec behind Roglic after Wednesday’s stage, but ended up losing ground and dropped to third overall.

Quick Guide Vuelta a España: stage result and GC Show Stage 18 final positions Colmenar Viejo - Beceril de la Sierra, 177.5km: 1 Sergio Higuita (Col) EF Education First 4hrs 33min 9sec; 2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma at 15sec; 3 Alejandro Valverde (Sp) Movistar; 4 R Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe at same time; 5 Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana at 17secs; 6 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal at 1mins 16secs; 7 Louis Meintjes (SA) Dimension Data; 8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar; 9 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates at same time; 10 Óscar Rodríguez (Sp) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias at 3mins 47sec.

General classification 1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma at 71hrs 16mins 54secs; 2 Alejandro Valverde (Sp) Movistar at 2min 50sec; 3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 3min 31sec; 4 Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana at 4min 17sec; 5 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates at 4min 49sec; 6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe at 7min 46sec; 7 Wilco Kelderman (Neth) Team Sunweb at 9min 46sec; 8 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal at 11min 50sec; 9 James Knox (GB) Deceuninck-QuickStep at 12min 44sec; 10 Marc Soler (Sp) Movistar at 21min 9sec.

Fellow Colombian Miguel Ángel López made several attacks on Thursday but couldn’t keep up with Roglic. He lies fourth overall, more than four minutes off the lead.

Realistically, it appears to be down to Movistar’s duo of Valverde and Quintana to deny Roglic his first Grand Tour victory. “There are two hard days left,” the 39-year-old Valverde said. “We can still win it or lose it.”