Simon Yates extends his lead as Thibaut Pinot wins another mountain finish

Yates puts time into all his rivals win just one mountain stage to go as Pinot takes another stage win

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) claimed a second brutal mountain-top victory on stage 19 of La Vuelta.

The Frenchman stayed in contention on the Col de la Rabassa with Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) in the finale and took the stage win as Yates put more time into his rivals.

Yates proved why he's the race leader distancing his nearest rivals including Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) by more than a minute.

Valverde held onto second place overall, but it was LottoNL-Jumbo’s Steven Kruijswijk who reclaimed a podium place after finishing just 13 seconds behind Yates.

VIDEO: 2018 La Vuelta Stage 19 Highlights by GCN

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2018 La Vuelta Stage 19 Top 10

1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 3:42:05 
2 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:05 
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:13 
4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:52 
5 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team   
6 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors   
7 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:03 
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:12 
9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:15 
10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:49

2018 La Vuelta CG after Stage 19

1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 76:44:41 
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:38 
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:58 
4 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:15 
5 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:02:29 
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:04:01 
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:05:22 
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:05:29 
9 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:06:30 
10 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:07:21