Vuelta a Espana leader Simon Yates survives fraught stage after Pinot attacks
Briton stays 𝔍in good shape as he holds the overall lead for a t꧙hird day
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Simon Yates (168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Mitchelton-Scott) remains narrowly in control of the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Vuelta a España's overall lead for a third day after a fraught stage where 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Thibaut Pinot (168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Groupama-FDJ) launched a long-range attack.
Yates argued🐎 that Pinot represented a danger but that꧂ Mitchelton-Scott took a calculated risk.
The leader since the Vuelta's hardest summit finish so far on the Covatilla last Sun♓day, the Briton said that he had not felt that he risked losing la roja, and that if Movistar chased, "it's because th🍎ey have to."
"It was a very crazy and fast start, which is ౠwhat we were expecting, and we tried to control the race as much as possible, for just over 100 kilometres," Yates said.
"The g🎐uys did a great job, but we can't control the race every day for 200 kilometres. We 🌳did the best we could and that was that."
Asked if he was worried about losing the jersey, Yates replied simply, 𒀰"No. We were confident."
"The team did a great job for over 100 kilometres, and afterwards Movistar chased because they have to. We don't have enough guys to control the race for over 100 kilom🎶etres, and they have the best two guys [Valverde and Nair✨o Quintana]."
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Yates remains the leader by one second over Valverde with Quintana 🍰at 14. As for Pinot, who is more than two minutes back, the Briton said, "Of course he is a danger and we closed it down several times before he got away."
"We canno꧒t control it all day every day and we had to take some risks sometimes, and that was the ri🦋sk we took."
Mitchelton-Scott's calculated gambleꦚ paid off, too, with most of the favourites, including Yates, only losing 12 seconds on Pinot. Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) suffered a little more, losing nearly a minute on the Frenchman. But for Yates, the losses were minimal.
On top of that, Yates said, he is feeling strong on an individual level. "I felt gooಞd on the climbs, I had no problems at all. But I am looking forward to getting into the real mountainsꦯ to test my legs and my form."
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.