Portugal Colonial - Yates powers to superb solo Vuelta stage nine victory

The British UAE Team Emirates rider went solo 58 kilometres from the finish in the Sierra Nevada mountains. He crossed the line one minute 39 seconds ahead of Richard Carapaz, who also put himself back in contention with a superb ride.

Australian Ben O'Connor retained the red jersey and increased his lead on second place Primoz Roglic to three minutes 53 seconds by claiming four bonus seconds as he finished third on the 178.5km run from Motril to Granada.

Ecuadorian EF Education–EasyPost rider Carapaz moved to third overall, trailing the leader by just over four-and-a-half minutes heading into Monday's rest day.

"I am super happy with how we were as a team, I think we were really composed, we led from the front when we needed to," said Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale rider O'Connor.

"Every second counts, and I didn't lose time today -- to some guys, yes -- but in the end I showed my real capacity and what I can do, so I'm proud."

Yates' victory was some welcome good news for UAE after their rider Joao Almeida abandoned the race in the morning after testing positive for Covid-19.

The Portuguese struggled on Saturday and fell off the pace in the overall standings.

Yates made an early move on the brutal Hazallanas climb, escaping from a breakaway group.

The Briton started the day nearly nine-and-a-half minutes down on O'Connor and now trails him by five minutes 30 seconds.

S.Caetano--PC