Sunday 3 September 2017 00:54, UK
Team Sky’s Chris Froome retained the lead in Vuelta a Espana as Bora-Hansgrohe's Rafal Majka soloed to victory on stage 14 from Ecija to Sierra de La Pandera.
Froome, who is bidding to become only the third rider to win La Vuelta and the Tour de France in the same year, crossed the line 31 seconds down on the Polish rider after the 175km stage.
But Froome's overall lead was trimmed by four seconds as Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), second overall, pipped him to third place on the day, picking up four bonus seconds on the line. The Italian now trails Froome by 55 seconds.
We're very much in control and looking forward to one more hard day before the rest day. Even though it's shorter it's going to be explosive.
Majka had been part of a breakaway which featured double figures at one stage and he made the decisive move with 10km remaining and was able to hang on during the final climb.
Majka crossed the line 27 seconds ahead of Astana's Miguel Angel Lopez, with Nibali and Froome following four seconds further back.
Katusha's Ilnur Zakarin was next ahead of Alberto Contador (Trek-Sagafredo) and Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott), dropping Chaves further behind Froome in the overall standings as he finished 26 seconds behind the Briton.
With Chaves losing time, Team Sunweb's Wilco Kelderman moved up to third in the standings, two minutes 17 seconds behind Froome, with Ilnur fourth at two minutes 25 seconds and Chaves fifth, a further 14 seconds back.
Sunday's 15th stage sees the race cover 129km from Alcala la Real to Sierra Nevada before Monday's rest day.
"When Alberto Contador, Nibali and Chaves kicked on there with 4-5km to go we knew it was a long way to go, with over 10 minutes still of climbing," Froome told Team Sky's official website.
"So I was very much in control with Wout [Poels], and also thinking a little bit about tomorrow as that's a massive day.
"Even though it's shorter it's going to be explosive and we're expecting fireworks again.
"That was a great day for us - a good one to tick off and to come out without having lost any major time. Four bonus seconds to Nibali that's alright - I'll take that for today and safe my legs for tomorrow.
"We're very much in control and looking forward to one more hard day before the rest day.
"For us it's really just about maintaining the position we have. And if we see an opportunity then we'll go for it."
