Simon Yates took a big step towards winning the Vuelta a España as it reached the mountains of Andorra, his adopted home, on Friday. The 26-year-old from Bury increased his overall lead with one dangerous stage left before Madrid on Sunday, but more than the time it was the performance that was so impressive in the face of a concerted, day-long assault from the Movistar team of his closest rival, Alejandro Valverde.

The offensive on Yates included an ambush on the plains before the peloton reached the Coll de la Rabassa, a monster of a climb, 17km long and 2,020m high. Splits opened in the peloton as they hit crosswinds and Movistar piled on the pressure with help from Quick-Step, whose young Spaniard, Enric Mas, sat third.

Vuelta a España: Simon Yates set to complete British cycling grand slam Read more

The attack was organised, it was swift, and it caught Yates and his Mitchelton-Scott team out. The race came back together but the Spanish team were not finished. As the climb began with a ramp of 13%, Winner Anacona and Nairo Quintana set a searing pace, shredding the front group and setting up a Quintana attack.

It was all designed to put Yates under pressure with the memory so fresh of his collapse in May on the equivalent stage of the Giro d’Italia, which he had been leading. Here, shepherded by teammates Jack Haig and his twin brother Adam, Yates drifted towards the front and with 10km of mountain ahead, kicked away to bridge up to Quintana, Thibaut Pinot and Steven Kruijswijk. In the end it was not Yates but Movistar who collapsed, with Valverde and Quintana cutting sorry, defeated figures at the summit.

Having finished second to Pinot on the stage, Yates would not allow himself to imagine that the race is now finished. “Not at all,” he said. “I need to be really careful. I know how it can all fall apart in one day, so we need to stay focused.”

Quick guide Vuelta a España: stage 19 result and GC Show Hide Stage 19 result 1 Thibaut Pinot (Fr) Groupama-FDJ 3hr 42min 5sec; 2 Simon Yates (GB) Mitchelton-Scott at 5 sec; 3 Steven Kruijswijk (Neth) LottoNL-Jumbo at 13 sec; 4 Rigoberto Urán (Col) EF Drapac p/b Cannondale at 52 sec;

5 Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana st; 6 Enric Mas (Sp) Quick-Step st;

7 Wilco Kelderman (Neth) Sunweb at 1min 3sec; 8 Alejandro Valverde (Sp) Movistar at 1min 12sec; 9 Tony Gallopin (Fr) AG2R at 1min 15sec;

10 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 1min 49sec. General classification 1 Simon Yates (GB) Mitchelton-Scott 76hr 44min 41sec;

2 Alejandro Valverde (Sp) Movistar at 1min 38sec; 3 Steven Kruijswijk (Neth) LottoNL-Jumbo at 1min 58sec; 4 Enric Mas (Sp) Quick-Step at 2min 15sec; 5 Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana at 2min29sec;

6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 4min 1sec; 7 Thibaut Pinot (Fr) Groupama-FDJ at 5min 22sec; 8 Rigoberto Urán (Col) EF Drapac p/b Cannondale at 5min 29sec; 9 Ion Izagirre (Sp) Bahrain-Merida at 6min 30sec; 10 Tony Gallopin (Fr) AG2R at 7min 21sec.

Attacking alone with 10km to go had been a gamble, he conceded. “Jack did a really good job to limit the distance to the guys up the road,” said Yates, “but I felt really good and I felt it was a good moment to go across. And that was it. From there it was flat out to the finish.” His lead over Valverde has gone from 25 seconds to 1min 38sec.

Saturday’s stage is only 97km but with six climbs. Kruijswijk said he expects another all-out offensive from Movistar, who have nothing to lose. Although he will not say it, and perhaps does not believe it yet, Yates is on the threshold of a historic achievement both personally and for British cycling, with the prospect of three different riders from the same country holding all three Grand Tours – after Chris Froome won the Giro and Geraint Thomas the Tour de France – entirely in his hands.