A single, telling attack by Vuelta a España leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) has all but decided the overall classification in his favour. After days of riding conservatively, Yates threw caution to the wind on stage 19 and opted for an all-out move 10 kilometres from the line at the summit finish of La Rabassa in the Pyrenees. He finished second on the day to stage winner Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), but Yates´ aggressive style reaped rich rewards, as GC runner-up Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) struggled and the Briton`s advantage tripled on the overall. Yates` lead went from 25 seconds to 1:33 over Valverde. Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors), previously third overall, also was unable to respond and got bumped down to fourth by Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo).ADVERTISEMENT As he has done ever since he took the lead, Yates continued to warn that anything can happen in the final two days. But with his GC advantage over a minute for the first time in the race, his first Grand Tour victory looks all but certain. Yates explained that he had switched to a much more aggressive way of racing rather than simply trying to defend. `When I try and defend the jersey it never seems to go to plan, so I tried to be more aggressive, and that`s the way I like to race, so I`ll continue to do that,` he said.
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