Eugenio Chacarra earned a two-stroke lead to take into the final round of the DS Automobiles 83° Open d'Italia.
The Spaniard reeled in long-time leader Joaquin Niemann at Circolo Golf Torino and pulled ahead at 17 under par with a late run of three straight birdies.
He will play with Niemann and Matt Wallace, both 15 under, in Sunday's final three-ball, with the start times brought forward due to the weather forecast.
Niemann went out in 32 with five birdies and was briefly five strokes ahead just before the turn, and stood over a long eagle putt at the ninth with a chance to extend his lead back to at least that margin.
He rolled the 51-foot effort just three feet past but missed that second attempt and the three-putt par was followed by three successive bogeys.
Wallace and Chacarra duly moved to within two, only to both bogey the 13th as Wallace found the water in front of the green and Chacarra three-putted from 44 feet.
Wallace bounced back with a birdie at the next and Chacarra made three in a row from the 15th. Niemann, who dropped another shot at the 15th, made a much-needed birdie at the 17th but then went through the green at the last as he and Wallace both finished two shots behind.
Chacarra said: “I think I did a great job staying patient like I did all week. I think just playing my game, control what I can control, have a good, positive attitude and just go from there.
“I have enough with myself that if I need to focus on Joaquin or what other guys are doing, I think I'll be crazy.
“That's one of the things I work a lot with my team and with my mental coach, just control what I can control, and that's my game, my decisions, my swings, that's what I'm focusing on and trying to do my best.
“I can't control what Joaquin or Matt or Angel (Ayora) - I mean, there's a lot of great guys coming behind me. And on this course, you can go really low like we've seen.
“Tomorrow with the early tee time, greens are going to be a little more receptive and better also. So obviously people can go low - and not even those, there's a lot of guys behind that played low this morning and they can have another low one tomorrow.
“So there's a lot of golf left. I need to just focus on what I can control, and hopefully I can perform as good as well and have a chance down the stretch.”
Chacarra will go in search of his third DP World Tour win and his second in succession after this month's KLM Open, having made his breakthrough at the 2025 Hero Indian Open.
“I already proved myself," he said. "I'm one of the best players in the world when I'm playing my game and when I'm playing good, so that's why I come every week, I try to win every tournament I play.
“Obviously, there are tremendous players behind me and in the field every week here on the DP World Tour, so it's not always easy. But just giving me chances and learning and getting better, that's what I want to get to."
Wallace followed up Saturday's course-record 62 with a solid 67 and said: “Yesterday I had to make a few putts to shoot that score. Today was that sort of round that kept it going, one of those days that wasn't perfect but it was also really good to keep me in the hunt for tomorrow.
“My job is to be in my own world tomorrow, my own bubble. You can't win it on Saturday and it felt out there a few times that people were trying to win it today, and I was just trying to stick in.
“So tomorrow's my day to go out there and try and win it and, yeah, I'll give it my all.”
Niemann added: “I played great on the front nine. I hit great shots, great putts, and I feel like kind of that same way on the back nine. Obviously, the scores didn't reflect that.
“I had a few missed second shots, ended up on the wrong spot, but the good thing, after shooting a 39 on a back nine, and on Saturday, I still have a chance to win tomorrow.
“I mean, I'm lucky so, yeah, I'm looking forward for tomorrow.”
Ayora shared fourth place on 13 under with Nicolai von Dellingshausen, who surged into contention with a 64 - as did Dylan Frittelli, one stroke behind.
Jeff Winther went one better with a 63 to reach 11 under, alongside Richie Ramsay, while Italian amateur Filippo Ponzano produced another of the rounds of the day with a 66 which began with five straight birdies.
