Simon Yates won his first stage at this year's Vuelta a España on Saturday after the Mitchelton-Scott rider dropped his key general classification rivals on the final climb before soloing across the finish line and into the leader's red jersey. Yates, who held the red jersey before losing it to Jesús Herrada earlier this week, regained the overall lead after the Briton proved too strong for Miguel Ángel López (Astana) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) who finished second and third respectively while Nairo Quintana (Movistar) appeared almost pedestrian on the steep final Alto Les Praeres slope. Speaking after his stage win, Yates said: “I chose my moment really well there in the final, I didn’t look back until it flattened off a little bit. I had a bit of a gap so just gave it everything to the line.” With two back-to-back mountain stages coming towards the end of the third and final grand tour of the season – both in Andorra where the 26-year-old bases himself – Yates will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the dramatic collapse he suffered at the Giro d'Italia in May. The Bury-born rider will start Sunday's 178.2km mountainous stage from Ribera de Arriba to Lagos de Covadonga in pole position, with a 20sec lead over Valverde with Quintana a further 5sec back.<doc-sep>Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) attacked a small group of overall favourites on the summit finish to stage 14 of the 2018 Vuelta a España, taking stage victory and reclaiming the overall lead. No-one was able to immediately respond to Yates' move with 700m to go on the steep final climb of Les Praeres, with even late counter-attacks from Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) not enough to stop him from taking the win. The Briton reclaims the red jersey with race leader Jesus Herrada dropped within the final 30km of the mountainous 171km stage. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) had been the most active of the GC contenders on the final climb, but appeared to have spent too much energy as he could only finish fifth, seven seconds behind Yates with Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) pipping him to the line. Yates now leads the overall by 20 seconds over Valverde in second and 25 seconds over Quintana in third place. Simon Yates in red after stage 14 of the 2018 Vuelta a España (Sunada) How it happened The 14th day of racing at the 2018 Vuelta a España would be another tough mountain day for the peloton, with no fewer than five categorised times along the 171km route, including a fierce summit finish to Les Praeres. With an uncategorised climb more or less straight out of the start, there could have been a big fight for the breakaway, but around 20km gone the peloton seemed content to let a group of Nicolas Roche and Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac), Ivan Cortina (Bahrain-Merida) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) get away, the latter just 5-02 down on GC. That meant the peloton wasn't keen on giving them a lot of rope, with the break reaching a gap of around 3-30 with 140km to go. They held just over two minutes for much of the time, but reach 3-43 on the bunch with around 75km to go. As they hit the third to last climb, the category one Alto de la Mozqueta, the break still had over two minutes, but Bahrain-Merida began to take things up on the front of the peloton and increasing the pace. The saw the break down to five as Garcia was told to drop back and help his team with the pace setting. They dropped to four as De Gendt appeared to have a mechanical after taking maximum king of the mountain points over the climb, with the peloton now closing in with gap under 1-30. Woods was the next rider dropped from the break, as he crashed on the descent of the Mozqueta and struggled to get back on. Behind, race leader Jesus Herrada was in trouble and found himself in a split in the bunch over the climb, quickly dropping over a minute behind and seeing his grasp on the red jersey slipping away. As the break hit the penultimate category three climb with around 30km, Bookwalter couldn't hack the pace any further and left Roche and Kwiatkowski to push on with a slim advantage of around 35 seconds. The Polish champion then dropped Roche towards the top of climb, and was able to push on and extend his lead to over 50 seconds. Herrada meanwhile, seemed to be cracking on that climb and dropping even further behind, eventually slipping to almost four minutes down as they hit the valley road to the final climb. Kwiatkowski also saw his gap fall in the valley, dropping to around 12 seconds ahead of the final climb on the Bahrain led peloton. His Sky team-mate David de la Cruz was also struggling, stuck in a group behind the main GC favourites and working hard to chase back on. What was left of the peloton finally caught Kwiatkowski with 5.2km to go, with Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) now driving the pace towards the steep slopes of the final climb. Kruijswijk was the first rider to try getting away from the GC group, and went with 3.6km to go with Valverde and Richard Carapaz (Movistar) following tentatively just behind. The Dutchman continued to lead with 2.8km to go, with Ion Izagirre struggling at the back despite his team's effort to tee him up. The pursuing group was now down to just Quintana, Carapaz, Yates, Lopez, Pinot, Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac), Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) with Valverde hitting out to try and get Kruijswijk, who was finally caught with 2.3km to go The acceleration to catch Kruijswijk put Pinot and Uran in trouble, with the next move coming from Quintana and Lopez who attacked with around 2km to go. When they were brought back, Quintana waited and went again with more urgency with 1.5km to go. Again, the only rider able to follow was his compatriot Lopez. They were unable to cooperate though, allowing Yates to drag the second group back in, with Pinot and Uran then able to get back on. It was Yates who then went with 700m to go, and with the road narrowing between the huge crowds, no-one was able to immediately respond on the steep slopes. As they emerged on to the open road again, Yates still held a narrow advantage. There was then a counter-attack from Lopez with Valverde following, but they could do nothing to stop Yates holding on to the finish, with Lopez beating Valverde to the line. Pinot, who had looked to be struggling earlier on, was then able to recover and pip Quintana to the finish as the Colombian began to fade. The Vuelta continues with stage 15 on Sunday and a huge summit finish to Lagos de Covadonga. Results Vuelta a España 2018, stage 14: Cistierna to Les Praeres. Nava (171k) 1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 04-19-27 2 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team, at 2s 3 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at same time 4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 5s 5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 7s 6 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 11s 7 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 19s 8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 27s 9 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 37s 10 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, at 39s Overall classification after stage 14 1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 59-11-18 2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at 20s 3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 25s 4 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team, at 47s 5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1-23 6 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 1-28 7 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-40 8 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-47 9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, at 1-55 10 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 2-08<doc-sep>
Last updated on .From the section Cycling Simon Yates first took the lead after stage nine Britain's Simon Yates retook the Vuelta a Espana lead with a spectacular summit victory on stage 14. Jesus Herrada, who moved ahead of Yates to take the red jersey on Thursday, dropped away on a day that featured almost 3,000m of vertical climbing. Mitchelton-Scott rider Yates, 26, emerged strongest from an elite group of eight on the steep Alto les Praeres. He burst decisively clear in the final kilometre, leaving behind rivals Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde. The Englishman is now 20 seconds clear of second-placed Valverde and 25 seconds ahead of the Spaniard's Movistar team leader Quintana in third. Yates, who first took the lead at this year's race after finishing ninth on stage nine, said: "I'm a bit happier now, I feel more like I deserve it this time. "I gave everything I could, I'm very happy," he added. "I chose my moment really well and didn't look back until it flattened out a little. There was a bit of a gap, so I just gave everything to the line." Saturday's 171km race from Cistierna in Castile and Leon had Herrada struggling well before front of the race reached the foot of the final ascent - the day's third category-one climb. There were gradients of 17% as Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski, the sole remaining member of the breakaway, was swept up before Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk became the first to attack from the group of leaders. The race's main rivals for overall victory attacked and counter-attacked behind, before Miguel Angel Lopez and Quintana opened up what appeared to be a decisive gap. But suddenly they seemed to tire and no rider was able to answer when Yates broke clear, with Lopez finishing second and Valverde placing third, both two seconds behind him. Cofidis' Spanish rider Herrada finished nine minutes and 16 seconds back. Sunday's stage 15 features a third consecutive summit finish as the riders cross 178.2km from Ribera de Arriba to Lagos de Covadonga in Asturias. Stage 14 results: 1. Simon Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) 4hrs 19mins 27secs 2. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +2secs 3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) Same time 4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra/FDJ) +5secs 5. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) +7secs 6. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/Team LottoNL-Jumbo) +11secs 7. Enric Mas (Spa/Quick-Step Floors) +19secs 8. Rigoberto Uran (Col/Team EF Education First-Drapac) +27secs 9. Ion Izagirre (Spa/Bahrain-Merida) +37secs 10. Fabio Aru (Ita/UAE Team Emirates) +39secs Overall standings: 1. Simon Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) 59hrs 11mins 18secs 2. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +20secs 3. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) +25secs 4. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana) +47secs 5. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/Team LottoNL-Jumbo) +1min 23secs 6. Rigoberto Uran (Col/Team EF Education First-Drapac) +1min 28secs 7. Ion Izagirre (Spa/Bahrain-Merida) +1min 40secs 8. Enric Mas (Spa/Quick-Step Floors) +1min 47secs 9. Tony Gallopin (Fra/AG2R La Mondiale) +1min 55secs 10. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe) +2mins 08secs