• Team Sky rider pulls away from Esteban Chaves on steep finish • Froome: ‘I put everything into that last couple of hundred metres’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Great Britain’s Chris Froome extended his lead in La Vuelta a España by winning stage nine ahead of his nearest rival Esteban Chaves at Cumbre del Sol.

Froome attacked with 500m to go of the steeply uphill finish and looked to have built a decisive gap, only for Chaves to dig deep and get back on to Froome’s back wheel.

However, Team Sky’s Froome was able to accelerate again and pulled clear to win by four seconds and extend his lead over Chaves, of Orica-Scott, in the general classification to 36 seconds.

Team Sky’s magic bus an unnecessary flexing of their financial muscle | Richard Williams Read more

After the last survivor of an initial 10-man breakaway was finally caught by the peloton with 6km remaining, Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) twice tried to escape from the bunch on the final climb.

Froome, however, refused to panic and sat calmly behind team-mate Mikel Nieve at the front of the group containing the title contenders, none of whom was able to overtake.

The four-times Tour de France winner eventually hit the front with 500m remaining and was able to respond when Chaves briefly caught him with 200m to go to maintain a firm grip on the leader’s red jersey.

“I put everything I had into that last couple of hundred metres,” Froome said after his first stage win of 2017. “I was determined that they weren’t going to catch me. I’m really, really happy to get the victory. The team did a brilliant job on that final climb and set such a good tempo.

“After a week we couldn’t have asked to be in a better position. It’s been a fantastic start to the Vuelta. The legs are feeling great. I’ve been to the Vuelta so many times, trying to target this race, and so far it feels like everything is going really well.”

Monday is a rest day before, on stage 10, the riders will tackle the 164.8km from Caravaca to El Pozo.