Yates gets closer to Vuelta win
SIMON Yates has one more mountain test to pass in his bid for La Vuelta victory after stretching his lead by more than a minute with a superb ride on stage 19 to Andorra.
The British rider finished second to Frenchman Thibaut Pinot on the Coll de la Rabassa, but successfully distanced his main rival Alejandro Valverde by over a minute.
Yates leads Movistar’s Valverde by one minutes 38 seconds, with LottoNL-Jumbo’s Steven Kruijswijk a further 20 seconds back in third, ahead of today’s short, punchy stage 20 to a summit finish on the Coll de la Gallina in Santuario de Canolich.
Yates, 26, is seeking his first Grand Tour victory, and what would be a fifth consecutive Grand Tour win for a British rider following Chris Froome’s TourVuelta-Giro treble and Geraint Thomas’ Tour de France victory in July.
And the Mitchelton-Scott rider took a major step towards achieving it on a day where he comfortably looked the strongest of the contenders, taking 67 seconds out of Valverde on the road and a further six seconds in bonuses.
“I felt good,” Yates said. “I felt good myself when I tried. The team did a fantastic job again.
“Jack (Haig) did a really good job to set me up before I went away, and Adam (Yates) was always behind in case I came back, so we did a fantastic job, but like I say, we’re focused on tomorrow now.
“I have to thank Thibaut for helping me. He could have easily sat on. Of course, he wanted the stage, but he could have stayed behind and not helped, but he helped, so chapeau. You don’t forget things like that very fast.”
Yates beat Valverde by 67 seconds on the road and picked up another six seconds in bonuses for second place. He was happy to let Pinot take stage honours, knowing he has put himself in the box seat to effectively secure victory today before tomorrow’s processional stage into Madrid.
“I’m very wary of tomorrow,” Yates added. “I’ll try to stay focused now and enjoy the day, but really it’s not over until it’s over.”
Leading Positions Stage 19 (Lleida Andorra. Naturlandia, 157km): 1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra Groupama-FDJ 3hrs 42mins 05secs, 2 Simon Yates (GBr) MitcheltonScottat 05secs, 3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo at 13secs, 4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale at 52secs, 5 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team, 6 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors at same time.
General Classification after Stage 19: 1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 76hrs 44mins 41secs, 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team at 01min 38secs, 3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo at 01min 58secs, 4 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors at 02mins 15secs, 5 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team at 02mins 29secs, 6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team at 04mins 01secs, 7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 05mins 22secs, 8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale at 05mins 29secs, 9 Ion Izagirre (Spa) BahrainMerida at 06mins 30secs, 10 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale at 07mins 21secs.