SIMON Yates paid for his marathon effort in the saddle yesterday as he slipped back to fifth place overall in the Vuelta a Espana.

The 24-year-old Bury rider made up more than a minute on the top two, Nairo Quintana and Chris Froome, in Saturday's race.

But he slipped back to 5mins 7secs behind Quintana overall after the Columbian blew the race wide open in stage 15.

Quintana seized on an early breakaway that also included former Vuelta winner Alberto Contador.

The move caught out Yates and second-placed Brit Chris Froome, who were unable to bridge the gap

Quintana went on to finish second, just three seconds behind Italian winner Gianluca Brambilla, after staying clear up the final climb to Formigal.

In doing so, he opened up his lead over Froome to 3:37 after the Tour de France winner finished 2:40 down on the stage.

Yates finished a further seven seconds behind Froome.

Contador's gamble failed to bridge the gap to the red jersey, but after the Spaniard finished sixth in the stage, 0:34 behind Quintana, he leapfrogged Yates in the overall standings to move into fourth place.

Yates's ORICA-BikeExchange team leader Esteban Chaves is third overall, 3:57 behind Quintana with six stages remaining.