Vuelta a Espana 2016: Stage 6 Winner, Highlights, Updated Standings and Schedule

Simon Yates of Orica-BikeExchange finished solo to take Stage 6 of the 2016 Vuelta a Espana on Thursday, launching a late jump on the final climb and finishing well ahead of the chasing group.It's the first major win for the 24-year-old supertalent from Great Britain since a four-month ban and the biggest win of his career, just months after his brother and team-mate Adam Yates impressed in the Tour de France.BMC Racing's Darwin Atapuma remains the overall leader. Here's a look at the results from Stage 6, via CyclingHub:The current standings:RecapHere's a look at the race highlights and an interview with the stage winner, courtesy of Cyclingnewstv:Stage 6 started at a surprisingly slow pace, with the first breakaway group not forming until an hour of racing had passed. BMC, Movistar and Team Sky all did their job at the front of the peloton, keeping their top riders out of the wind.A small group eventually got away, including Omar Fraille of Dimension Data and Mathias Frank of IAM Cycling. The peloton was happy to let the group ride but never really lost contact completely, and after a push from Fraile for the points in the mountain classification and an attack from Frank, Movistar in particular closed in quickly.The Spanish formation appeared to be riding for Alejandro Valverde, who has a stunning record in the Vuelta, per cycling writer Cillian Kelly:At the front, Jan Bakelants and an AG2R soigneur tasked with handing him a bidon provided one of the top highlights of the day, via Eurosport UK:Frank's late push put him in the driver's seat for the stage win, but the Swiss rider collapsed in the final kilometers, allowing a reduced peloton to close the gap in a hurry.Yates and Movistar's Daniel Moreno rode toward Frank, and the former eventually dropped his companion, building his speed as the road levelled and crossing the finish line on his own. Cycling writer Mihay Cazacu expects more greatness from the Brit in the future:In the background, Luis Leon Sanchez beat the rest of the pack to second place, while overnight leader Atapuma comfortably survived in the large group that finished 29 seconds behind the winner. The group also included all of his major rivals for the red jersey, minus Steven Kruijswijk of LottoNL-Jumbo, who didn't start the stage.The Vuelta will leave Galicia and travel into Zamora during Stage 7, a hilly affair that should favour the puncheurs and more adventurous riders. There's a very good chance the red jersey will change hands, with the favourites saving their energy for Stage 8 and the monstrous climb of La Camperona.La Camperona starts out slow but has a peak gradient of more than 19 percentexpect several top riders to lose a lot of time during Stage 8.
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