Simon Yates mugs peloton to win 6th stage of Vuelta

Orica-Bike Exchange must think success runs in the family as Simon Yates won a difficult sixth stage of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race on Thursday with a piece of opportunism on a tough day for the riders.

The stage was complicated by the extremely 'lumpy' terrain' which gave the competitors little respite on a day when temperatures climbed to around 35 degrees centigrade.

A six-man break was able to ride away from the main group, but when their lead had been cut to under two minutes on a twisty and technical descent on narrow roads, Swiss rider, Mathias Frank decided the time had come to strike out on his own.

He held on for around 30 kilometers, but his efforts were destined to end in brave failure as the main peloton, led by the Movistar team, worked hard to close the gap.

Movistar' s Dani Moreno looked to ride off the front with four kilometers remaining, only to be hijacked by Simon Yates (Orica - Bike Exchange), who used his talent on an uphill finish to ride away and finish comfortably ahead of the group.

An administrative error had curtained Yates' season and he was forced to sit out two months as the result of suspension, while his twin brother, Adam finished fourth and won the young rider' s jersey in the Tour de France, however, his quick thinking and climbing legs allowed him to take the biggest win in his career.

Meanwhile the overall classification remains the same with Darwin Atapum (BMC) taking a narrow lead over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Chris Froome (Sky) into Friday' s stage, which is another lumpy 158 kilometers between Maceda and Puebla de Sanabria, which should favor either a breakaway or a sprint finish. Endit