Simon Yates has extended his overall lead in La Vuelta to 33 seconds after a strong time trial performance on stage 16.
The 26-year-old finds himself in familiar territory as he leads going into the closing stages of a Grand Tour for the second time this year.
During the Giro d’Italia in May, he held the pink jersey until stage 18 when he cracked as Chris Froome eventually prevailed.
However Yates appears to be in good shape to make up for that disappointment as he took a further seven seconds off Alejandro Valverde on a day where Rohan Dennis claimed stage victory.
The Australian was a cut above the rest of the field, finishing 50 seconds clear, with Yates’ effort on the day good enough for 13th spot.
That was better than the vast majority of his general classification rivals, with only Steven Kruijswijk and Enric Mas, of the top ten, taking any time off him.
By contrast, Yates extended his lead over Valverde by seven seconds while after a difficult stage Colombia’s Nairo Quintana dropped to fourth overall, behind Kruijswijk who is 52 seconds adrift of Yates.
The race continues on Wednesday with a hilly stage in the Basque Country, while the outcome of the GC could come down to stages 19 and 20 in the mountains in Andorra.
Yates is seeking to follow in the footsteps of Froome and Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas in becoming the third Brit to win a Grand Tour in 2018.
Sportsbeat 2018