La Vuelta: Yates twins attack on penultimate stage, Cort Orica's best chance for a win

“We gave it a crack, we were close but no cigar,” said Orica-Scott sports director Neil Stephens following an attack from two of his three original general classification contenders on the penultimate stage of the 72nd edition of La Vuelta a España on Saturday.

The team’s 25-year-old British twins Adam and Simon Yates, both of whom have won the best young rider jersey at the Tour de France, went on the attack and animated what was considered the final GC stage of the race.

The brothers were two of 18 riders in a break hat was never allowed much more than two minutes for the 117.5-kilometre stage.  

Ultimately, US-based Trek-Segafredo controlled the short stage from Corvera de Asturias to Alto de L’Angliru to set up retiring 34-year-old Spaniard and three-time Vuelta winner Alberto Contador for the stage victory.

“Everyone knows the spirit of the team is to give it everything, we have tried everything we could. The results we haven’t walked away with are not a reflection of the spirit of the team. We are still positive, we have tried, we’ve have a great work ethic, it just hasn’t come off yet.” 

With the team still looking for a stage win, the Australian WorldTour squad hopes history repeats itself as Dane Magnus Cort revisits a stage finish he won in 2016 to claim what was his second victory in four days.

“We will keep trying right to the finish and Maggie, as much as is possible with such grueling days, has been trying to look after himself these past couple of days,” said Stephens. “And the boys are really motivated to try to get him back up for the stage win in Madrid again.” 

It was another day of lost time for former GC contender Esteban Chaves. The Colombian climber, who along with the Yates brothers were all inside the top 10 overall during the first week of racing, falls one spot to 12th overall and drops 4 minutes 35 seconds to16:32 back after once sitting second overall down 11 seconds to race leader Chris Froome on Stage 7.

For full stage and race results click here.