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Vuelta a Espana 2018: Stage 14

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Hola and welcome to the Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 14 of the Vuelta a Espana.

 

Hola! We will have full coverage of stage 14 of the Vuelta a Espana as the riders again head into the mountains for a second consecutive steep finish.

Today's 171km stage is from Cistierna to Les Praeres. It is a day in the northern Austrias region.

As the CN blimp takes height, the riders are in the neutraliased section.

We can seen Vincenzo Nibali at the back of the peloton.

The riders face 2.5km of neutralised riding before the flag drops and the 171km stage starts. 

There were lots of smiles at the start the riders know they face another hard day in the saddle. 

The red flag is waved and we have the first attacks.

Van Baarle is the only non-starter today. 

165km remaining from 171km

The riders will soon hit the first steep climb of the day. It is not categorised but is a perfect launch pad for an attack.

Kwiatokowski attacks alone, dancing on the pedals. He's lost time in the GC in recent days and so is looking for a stage victory. 

163km remaining from 171km

154km remaining from 171km

The gap is already 1:45.

Nicolas Roche, Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Michael Woods (Education First-Drapac) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Bahrain-Merida) have joined Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) up front. 

Behind the peloton Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) is at the doctor's car and seems to be taking on something via an inhaler.   

While Mate is being treated, his teammates are leading the peloton in pursuit of the break. 

150km remaining from 171km

This photo from the official race photographer shows the break of the day.

We stand corrected of the BMC riders in the break. They are Roche and the USA's Brent Bookwalter rather than Alessandro De Marchi. 

142km remaining from 171km

After a struggling at the back of the peloton, Pavel Sivakov has retired. The 21 year-old Russian was covered in bandages after a series of crashes. 

133km remaining from 171km

Yesterday was the first of three consecutive difficult mountain stages, and the winner was a real surprise – 23-year-old Oscar Rodriguez of Euskadi-Murias. The youngster appeared seemingly out of nowhere to shoot past Rafal Majka and Dylan Teuns to take his first pro win.

Meanwhile the gap has dropped to 2:40. With Kwaitkowski in that break, the field will not be willing to let the gap get too big.

On the GC front, Jesus Herrada maintained his overall lead, although both Simon Yates and Nairo Quintana gained time on him. Yates is still second, while Quintana moved up from fouth to third, swapping places with Alejandro Valverde.

Here the top five coming into today’s stage:

121km remaining from 171km

In the further rankings, Valverde leads the combined classification, Bahrain-Merida the team classification, Luis Mate (Cofidis) the mountain ranking, and Valverde the points ranking.

La Vuelta tells us that “The riders are evolving in the beautiful asturian landscapes”. Does this mean we will end up with a peloton of riders who are half-man, half-mountain goat?

The six leaders have now started up the Cat. 1 climb Puerto de San Isidro, and have also increased their gap, which is now at 3:01.

But with the six leaders within 1 km of the summt, the gap has come down again to 2:40.

De Gendt was the first over the top and gets the maximum mountain points. And now down they go.....

That was five points for De Gendt, who is now third in the mountain ranking. Second was NIcolas Roche and third was Brent Bookwalter. 

103km remaining from 171km

A Movistar rider jumps from the field on the descent -- which they are taking at 61 km/h!

It is Emanol Erviti for Movistar.

The gap is down to 2:12 now as they continue on the descent. There isn't really any time for them to catch their breath though, as they will soon start up the day's second climb, the cat 1 Alto de la Colladona.

89km remaining from 171km

 

However the Alto de Colladona is steep. It's 5.3km long at 8 per cent.

84km remaining from 171km

81km remaining from 171km

80km remaining from 171km

Simon Yates drops back to his team car to get some help with his race radio. 

Thomas De Gendt is sweeping up points on the climbs today. 

75km remaining from 171km

The riders now face 20km in the valley roads before the next climb. 

The peloton is also on the flat road and so Cofidis and Movistar start working hard again. Their riders are quickly on the drops with flat backs and high speed. 

65km remaining from 171km

61km remaining from 171km

Woods will have to attack his breakaway rivals at some point today. Perhaps not on the next two climbs but early on the final climb.

55km remaining from 171km

52km remaining from 171km

49km remaining from 171km

47km remaining from 171km

44km remaining from 171km

The riders face a short kick up and then a 10km descent.  

De Gendt suffered a surprise mechanical. He was forced to change bikes and so is chasing alone. 

De Gendt has lost 30 seconds. Perhaps after taking a haul of KOM points he has decided to ease up. Job done for today. 

39km remaining from 171km

Ouch. Woods hits the barriers on the exit of a tight corner. 

Woods changed bikes from the EF team car but he's also chasing the break.  

Woods appeared to lock up after riding into a dark shadowed section. He hit his right leg on the barriers but had taken off much of his speed.

The descent is tight and twisting in the trees. 

33km remaining from 171km

With two climbs, including a steep one to the finish, the GC riders in the peloton now have a good chance of catching the break and fighting for the stage victory. 

The peloton has also split. Race leader Herrada is not there and Lopez has also missed the split. 

Nibali is leading the front part of the peloton, ticked in an aero position over his bars. 

Herrada is reported to be 1:20 back. After riding so well, he could lose his leader's jersey today. 

26km remaining from 171km

25km remaining from 171km

Roche has also cracked up front as Kwiato tries to go for the stage victory alone.   

However Kwiato is being hunted down by the GC front group. They are just 40 seconds back now. 

23km remaining from 171km

Nibali is still working hard to set up ion Izagirre.  

There are 40 or so riders in the Nibali group. 

20km remaining from 171km

Nibali leads the chasers, some 50 seconds down on Kwiato.

Kwiato gained time on the climb and is also gaining time on the descent.

Crash! 

Louis Meintjes (Dimension Data) went down and has some cuts on his arms. 

14km remaining from 171km

Race leader Herrada is now more than 3:40 back on Kwiato. If the GC rivals stay together then Simon Yates will take back the race lead. 

8km remaining from 171km

Kwiato refuses to give up. He dances on the pedals but the gap is coming down. 

The Polish rider has been voted the más combativo rider of the stage. 

6km remaining from 171km

5km remaining from 171km

The final 4km are close to 20 per cent on a farm track. 

4km remaining from 171km

Groupama take control for Pinot. 

Steven Kruijswijk is next to attack. This is a serious surge. 

3km remaining from 171km

Yates drags Quintana and the others up to Valverde.

The roads is steep now. 

2km remaining from 171km

Uran, Mas, Lopez, Valverde, Quintana and Yates are in the group.

Pinot is suffering but is fighting his way back on.

Valverde surges and catches Kruijswijk. So do the others.

2km remaining from 171km

Uran is suffering as Quintana kicks. He's followed by Lopez.

No reaction from Yates yet.

Pinot is back on as the steep gradient slows the race to a painful crawl. 

Quintana attacks again! 

1km remaining from 171km

They lead the others by 50 metres or so.

Yates, Valverde and Pinot react and close the gap. 

1km remaining from 171km

Mas and Uran are back on too. 

They're on the concrete track now.  Yates attacks! 

Yates is going for it! The others are struggling. 

but Lopez, Quintana and Valverde are closing the gap.

Yates can see the finish. 

Yates stays away and wins the stage ! 

Lopez and Valverde lead the chase and finish a second or two down on Yates. 

However it is Yates' day. He wins the stage and takes the red leader's jersey again. 

Yates takes a swig on a drink as he celebrates his win. 

He crossed the finish line with his arms open and then bangs his chest in his usual celebration gesture. 

He let out a mix of anger and celebration. He's got character.

Yates is now on the rollers as he tries to recover from his huge effort. 

Yates now leads Valverde by 20 seconds in the GC. 

Quintana is third at 25 seconds with Lopez fourth at 47 seconds. 

This is the top ten on the stage: 

This is the new GC with Yates in the red jersey. 

The riders are getting changed beyond the finish area. There is nowhere to go but down, to their team buses and eventually their hotels. 

Quintana is also warming down on the rollers before he descends. 

The question remains: who is the Movistar leader? We may have to wait until Tuesday's 32km time trial to Torrelavega to find out or even until after the final mountain stages in Andorra.

This screen grab shot shows the moment Simon Yates won the stage today.

This is the moment Simon Yates won the stage. He looks happy. 

Other riders have now reached the summit. They are wrapping up and even putting newspapers up their jersey for the descent to their team buses.

Incredibly Louis Meintjes made it to the finish. Doctors quickly look at his injuries.  It will be important to check he is not suffering from concussion.

This shot shows Yates as he nears the finish line. you can see the gaps he opened on his rivals.  

Simon Yates was happy to pull on the red leader's jersey.

Yates and his Mitchelton-Scott team will have to defend the lead on Sunday's mountain stage to Lagos de Covadonga.

This is the moment Yates hit the line and celebrated his stage victory.

For our full stage report, full results and photo gallery from the stage, click here.

That's it for today's live coverage. Join us tomorrow for all the action from the finish atop Lagos de Covadonga to see if Yates can hold off the Movistar attacks. 

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