When Simon Yates jumped from the group of favourites with 10 kilometres of the Coll de la Rabassa still to climb, it seemed to catch everyone off guard, even his own brother and teammates. The standard modus operandi for a race leader this close to the end of a Grand Tour is to defend and mark the moves of the closest rival, but Yates clearly felt that attack was the best form of defense and went from range on Friday to extend his lead in the overall standings with just one key stage to go in the Vuelta a Espana. As he bridged over to Steven Kruijswijk and Nairo Quintana, who dropped away before stage winner Thibaut Pinot made his way over, it seemed to catch everyone off guard. There was no immediate response from the other GC contenders, and no coordinated chase thereafter, allowing Yates to put more than a minute into second-placed Alejandro Valverde, whom he now leads by 1:38.ADVERTISEMENT `I was little bit surprised he went so early,` Jack Haig, one of Yates two key mountain domestiques, told Cyclingnews. `I sort of said to him, `I donŽt have so much left I can maybe hold the gap, but I canŽt really bring it back. And he was obviously feeling really good and was like `ah, alright, IŽll goŽ. `He went so far out because of tempo that was set. There werenŽt so many workers left with 10km to go and he was obviously feeling really good. He knows the climb very well. He knew what he was doing. It was a bit of a risk ahead of tomorrow but to take a minute I think is worth it.`
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