Vuelta a España: Simon Yates seals overall win

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Enric Mas (Quick Step Floors) won the final mountain stage of the Vuelta a Espana, outsprinting Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) to the top of the Coll de la Gallina in Andorra. Race leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton Scott) put his final stamp on the race, coming in third at 23 seconds to effectively seal the overall win.

Yates confirmed his domination of the race, staying near the front of affairs and making sure he was never in danger. The rest of the GC saw a major reshuffle, as Mas and Lopez moved up to claim second and third, replacing Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Steven.

The GC saw Yates extend his lead with Mas at 1:46, and Lopez third at 2:04. Kruijswijk and Valverde were fourth and fifth. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) lost more time but hung on for 8th place, while Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) clawed his way up to 10th.

Yates had the race under control all day. Supported by his team at first, and then by twin brother Adam, he was on his own in the finale, but never wavered for a moment. Even when he fell back from Mas and Lopez, it was more his decision to let them go rather than that he was not able to go with them.

"The last week, every day I looked at the video from when Valverde won here in 2012, and I was thinking I need to sprint before into the corner, and then the last 50m full gas," Mas said. "I did like this - I did full gas before the corner and then I went full, full, full."

Is he the next Contador? "No, I'm Enric Mas. I hope one day maybe I can have half of his victories, but I'm Enric Mas."

As for Yates, he will become the third British Grand Tour winner of 2018 when he completes tomorrow's final stage. After crumbling in the final week of the Giro d'Italia he has come back and proven his credentials.

"Finally, I think it's sinking in. I'm incredibly proud, and incredibly proud of the team also. They carried me through the entire three weeks. It's the first GT for the team - it's just unbelievable," he said.

On today's stage, he said: "Adam [Yates] was running out of legs and I didn't want to be in the position where I was riding through the valley to the final climb. I think that could have been the worse situation possible. I knew that Lopez and Quintana were up the road, and Lopez especially had something to gain, so I knew he'd maybe work with me."

"As they say, sometimes attack is the best form of defence."

"In the last climb I was OK, I was really at my limit. Lopez and Mas they were really incredible in the final. I just tried to make my own rhythm. That was it, really. I gave it everything I had and thankfully it was enough."

How it unfolded

There was barely a flat meter on today's short stage, and the attacks started just after the neutral zone. Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) was the first to succeed, jumping to take the maximum points on the first climb, the cat. 2 Coll de Comella, which came 5.6km after the start.

On the descent Vincenzo Nibali jumped from the field and soon a group of 15 formed around him with Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Dario Cataldo, Omar Fraile (Astana), Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing Team), Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar Team), Amanuel Ghebreigzhaber (Dimension Data), Michael Woods (Education First-Drapac), David De La Cruz, Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Jose and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis).

Mollema tried to get away 5km from the top of the day's second climb, the cat.1 Coll de Beixalis, but was caught. Some two minutes back, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) tried to jump from the red jersey group. Once again, de Gendt took off in search of points, with Nibali, Majka, Woods, Kwiatkowski and Mollema in pursuit.

The five chasers caught De Gendt with 72km to go and a gap of 2:32 on the pack.

A group of nine formed behind the six leaders with Dario Cataldo, Omar Fraile (Astana), Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing Team), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Amanuel Ghebreigzhaber (Dimension Data), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha Alpecin), David de la Cruz (Team Sky), Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb) and Jesus Herrada (Cofidis).
The two groups came together on the ascent of the Coll de Ordino.

Lopez on the march

Astana had taken control of the chasing group but it was Herrada who jumped from the break, hitting the summit first on the next climb, with the field some 1:30 back. The Spaniard, who wore the leader's red jersey for two days earlier in the race, stayed away from the chasers for much of the long descent, with the peloton coming closer and closer on the Coll de Beixalis.

With less than 40km to go, the lead group shattered into groups on the climb, and the red jersey group started falling apart as well, with Astana continuing to push the pace. Up front it was Kwiatkowski, de la Cruz, Majka and Mollema, while Lopez took off with Astana teammates Dario Cataldo and Omar Fraile.

With 36km left, Lopez had moved up to the first chase group with Nibali and Cataldo. Yates had by this point only his twin brother Adam to support him.

Duty done, Cataldo soon sat up as the Lopez group continued to chase Majka and de la Cruz. The catch was made shortly before the summit, and a select group around the red jersey joined them as well.

Quintana attacked on the descent, while there were less than 15 riders in the red jersey group. Once again, the road soon started heading up, this time tackling the Coll de la Comella for the second time.

With 20km (and two climbs) to go, Quintana and Lopez took the lead. Nibali had to drop out of the chase group, which now held Yates, Valverde, Kruijswijk, Mas, Pinot, Uran, Izagirre, Buchmann, Kelderman, Majka and Brambilla.

Yates took off with 17km to go, looking to prove his domination of the stage and race, with only Mas able to go with him. They soon had the two Colombians in their sights and the catch was made with just over 13km left.

That left only one more obstacle: the Hors Category closing climb, the Coll de la Gollina.

The four leaders had 30 seconds as they headed into the finale, with Quintana almost immediately falling behind. Mas and Lopez pulled ahead, with Yates continuing to ride his own rhythm and not afraid of losing his overall lead. The two leaders soon had 11 seconds on Yates, and 48 seconds on the group with Valverde an Kruijswijk. Mas and Lopez looked to get as much time as possible and replace those two on the podium. Valverde helped their case by falling back from the group, with a sad picture of him and Quintana alone in the back.

Kruijswijk, seeing his podium place slip away, took off in a bid to retain it. Mas and Lopez, assured of success, took it easy in the closing meters. They sprinted up to the finish line, with Mas taking the win.

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