ADAM Yates lost his place as best young rider at the Vuelta a Espana and dropped out of the top 10 yesterday in a "tough day at the office" for his Orica-Scott team.

His twin brother Simon put in an audacious solo move to bridge a gap to a breakaway at the start of the first of two climbs on the stage up to the astronomical observatory of Calar Alto – the first summit finish over 2,000m in this year's tour.

It was part of a team plan to send a rider up the mountain to wait for Orica-Scott leader Esteban Chaves and help him close the gap on Chris Froome in the race leader's red jersey.

But it back-fired, with the Colombian climber unable to pick up the pace and both he and the Yates brothers paid for their efforts in the closing stages.

Chaves finished the stage 2mins 33secs behind Froome in the overall standings after dropping from second to third, with Vincenzo Nibali leapfrogging him in GC, 1:19 seconds behind the British leader.

Adam Yates, meanwhile, dropped to 20th overall, 11:00 behind Froome after finishing the stage 9:13 behind winner Miguel Angel Lopez, who moved above him in the race for the best young rider prize.

Simon Yates had already fallen some 20 minutes off the overall pace before the stage and ended it 40:54 behind Froome in the overall standings.

Chaves admitted after the race that it did not go to plan.

“Sometimes when you have one plan, in the final it’s good or it’s bad but the important thing is that we tried," he said.

“At the bottom of this last climb Bahrain attacked, Nibali attacked and (Alberto) Contador attacked and I lost the wheel. Jack (Haig) was with me and we tried to take one pace and minimise the time lost.

“It was part of the plan (for Simon to attack). But as I said, sometimes the plan works out well like last year’s 20th stage and sometimes it’s like today.

“But we tried and we will continue to try.”

Simon Yates rode well in last year's Vuelta to support Chaves in his bid for a podium finish. The Colombian ended up finishing third, behind runner-up Froome and winner Nairo Quintana.

There are 10 stages remaining in the three-week event, with today's 160km route to Los Delmenes featuring two climbs – the ascent of the Puerto del León (a first category climb) and the Puerto del Torcal (second category) – before a 17km descent to the finish line.