Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) soloed to victory on stage 2 of Vuelta a Castilla y Leon and earned the overall title at the two-day stage race.
George Bennett (UAE Team Emirates) finished second in Guijuelo in lone pursuit of the Briton, while Jonathan Lastra (Caja-Rural-Seguros RGA) was third. It was the seventh victory of the season for Simon Yates.
The general classification mirrored the stage 2 results, with Bennett securing second overall and Lastra third.
"Of course I'm really happy with the win, we put it on the line today,” Yates said. “We didn't know which way it was going to go, whether it would be a sprint for Dion [Smith] or if I'd be able to do something in the final climb. But with the heat and the way the race developed it looked more and more like it would be a select group or a really attacking final for me.
“And we really attacked the final climb as hard as possible and I tried to do my best from there onwards. I'm really happy to pull it off and now I'm looking forward to doing San Sebastian on the weekend."
The second and final day of the Spanish race was 189.3km with a hilly profile around Castile and León for the start and finish in Guijuelo
After 100km had ticked away, the main breakaway of six riders had a 2:30 advantage over the peloton, the group containing Daniel Mclay (Team Arkéa-Samsic), Juan Antonio López-Cózar (Burgos-BH), David González (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Daniel Viegas (EOLO-Kometa), Daniel Muñoz (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli) and Pier-Andre Cote (Human Powered Health).
Once the race was under 50km, a group of five other riders would tag along, but the efforts would fray and the breakaway ended.
With 27km to go Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) was on his own and had carved out a 1:13 advantage over the next six kilometres. Only Bennett was able to gain time back, but ran out of real estate.
“It felt good to be back on the bike and back at the races after the disappointment I had at the Tour. I actually didn’t feel that good today but hung on and had the legs to do something at the end," Bennett said.
"The boys were great today: they did a great job and got me in a really good position. I just couldn’t follow Simon at the end. He was just too strong and second was the best we could do. I’m really glad to be back racing.”
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