Britain’s Adam Yates has claimed victory over the final climb of stage three of the Volta a Catalunya to take the overall race lead while his Australian teammate Richie Porte has moved into second place in the general classification.
Heading into the last five kilometres of the 203.5km stage on another big day for British team Ineos Grenadiers, Yates ended up part of a three-man breakaway along with Jumbo-Visma’s Sepp Kuss and Alejandro Valverde of Movistar.
American Kuss and Yates eventually pulled clear, with the British rider attacking again for a solo run up the final climb to finish 13 seconds ahead of Colombian Esteban Chaves, riding for the Australian outfit Team BikeExchange, who made a superb late surge to finish second.
It was Yates’ first victory since joining the Ineos Grenadiers, and his second at the same summit finish following on from the 2019 race when he went on to be runner-up.
Porte came home ninth in the stage to move into second place overall, just 45 seconds behind his teammate.
Yates’s win followed the time trial victory on Tuesday by his other Australian teammate Rohan Dennis, who switched back happily into his ‘domestique’ role for the mountain slog.
“It’s a first victory for my new team – I’m really happy,” said Yates.
“Everything was perfect and then in the end we had cards to play as we knew from the beginning.
“We played them well, with Richie (Carapaz) going in the early move, then I came across and then just kept on going.”
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