MIRADOR DE EZARO, Spain -- Alexandre Geniez of France held off an attack by the title favorites on a brutal final climb to win the third stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Monday.Geniez completed the hilly 176.4-kilometer (109.6-mile) ride along the Atlantic coast finishing at the Mirador de Ezaro summit in 4 hours, 28 minutes, 36 seconds. The FDJ rider collapsed to the ground after recording his second career win on the Spanish grand tour, needing several minutes to rest before stepping onto the podium.Geniez compared the short, but very steep ascent to a little Alpe dHuez, one of the classic mountain climbs of the Tour de France.I worked very hard to arrive to the Vuelta in good shape, he said. The group didnt increase its pace until late, and by then they couldnt do anything.Ruben Fernandez crossed 21 seconds later and took the overall lead. He claimed the red jersey after leading a late charge by Movistar that shook up the times among the contenders, and dropped Alberto Contador even further off the lead.Alejandro Valverde was third, just ahead of Tour champion Chris Froome and fellow race rivals Esteban Chaves and Nairo Quintana.Valverde, the 2009 Vuelta winner, moved into second overall at seven seconds behind Fernandez. Froome is 11 seconds back, followed by Chaves and Quintana at 17.Three-time Vuelta winner Alberto Contador couldnt stay with that bunch on the last ascent, which had a gradient that reached 30 percent.After losing more ground, Contador will start Tuesdays stage 1 minute, 31 seconds off the lead.It wasnt a good day, but like I have said before, the Vuelta is far from over, Contador said. I am not satisfied, but I feel that my conditioning will improve over the coming days.Fernandez looked like he had the legs to catch Geniez, but the Spaniard let up momentarily when it appeared Quintana and Valverde couldnt keep up. When Movistar released him from pulling his leaders up the ascent, it was too late to catch Geniez.The idea was to work for Nairo and Alejandro, but at the end they told me to go for it, Fernandez said.Warren Barguil became the first rider to withdraw from the race, quitting because of a sinus infection.Astanas Miguel Angel Lopez crashed near the end of the stage. Lopez was named the team leader after 2015 Vuelta winner Fabio Aru didnt return for this edition.Tuesdays stage remains in the hilly northwestern coast, with a 163.5-kilometer (101.5-mile) ride from Betanzos to a summit finish at San Andres de Teixido.The 21-stage grand tour ends in Madrid on Sept. 11. Paul George Shoes Wholesale . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. 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And that -- more than his respectable numbers -- is what hell take away from Pittsburghs 27-16 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday.I thought for the most part I played decisive, Jones said. Were there plays that I wanted to have back? Absolutely.Namely a first-quarter interception in the end zone that wiped out a chance for the Steelers (4-3) to seize momentum. Jones saw wide receiver Antonio Brown in single coverage, but his lob was poorly underthrown .That was just a bad ball, Jones said. AB ran a good route. I threw a (poor) ball.One of the few during three hours in which Jones filled in capably for Ben Roethlisberger, who offered what he could on the sideline while wearing sweatpants over the left knee he had surgically repaired last Monday.Jones completed 29 of 47 passes for 281 yards with a touchdown and the one pick. It wasnt a disaster to be sure. It just should have been so much more.The Steelers scored just one touchdown in four trips to the red zone. A touchdown pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey in the second quarter was wiped out by a penalty. Typically reliable kicker Chris Boswell missed a pair of field goals, though one of them was an iffy 54-yarder into the open end of Heinz Field halfway through the fourth quarter with the Steelers down 11.Jones did exactly what Roethlisberger likes to do: getting the ball to running back LeVeon Bell (149 total yards) and wide receiver Antonio Brown (seven receptions for 106 yards). All those yards, however, resulted into just one trip to the end zone, something that cant happen when Tom Brady is on the other sideline.Its a small margin of error with a team like that, Bell said.Offensive coordinator Todd Haley certainly showed firm belief in Jones, keeping the playbook as diverse as ever. Jones looked the part of a starter when he hit Brown for 51 yards dowwn the sideline in the second quarter, the longest play given up by the Patriots this season.ddddddddddddYet it wasnt enough to keep up with Brady or a Patriots offense that hummed with clinical efficiency when required. Twice in the second half the Steelers kicked a field goal to cut into the New England lead, and twice the Patriots responded with touchdowns. Brady hit Rob Gronkowski for a 36-yard score in the third quarter and former Steeler LeGarrette Blount slammed over from 5 yards early in the fourth for his second touchdown of the day.Pittsburghs defense, which was bulldozed in a mystifying loss in Miami last week, held Brady and company in check for stretches. Yet every time Pittsburgh needed one stop to give its offense a chance to seize the lead, the Patriots practically sprinted down the field.Were looking like garbage right now, Pittsburgh linebacker Ryan Shazier said. This is terrible right now.At least the Steelers are still in first place in the AFC North. Theyll have a chance to get healthy with a bye week coming up before visiting struggling rival Baltimore on Nov. 6.Maybe Roethlisbergers knee will be OK to go. Defensive end Cam Heywards hamstring too. Maybe tight end Ladarius Green will finally get off the physically unable to perform list. Maybe the defense will find whatever its lacking.Thats a lot of maybes, something Pittsburgh refuses to traffic in.You play 67 snaps good and you have a handful of snaps that cost you the game, thats frustrating, linebacker Arthur Moats said. But weve got to remain more consistent.Something thats proven elusive so far during a season that has seen the Steelers look like a legitimate threat to reach the Super Bowl and a non-contender in equal measure. They hardly folded with Roethlisberger out. They simply expected to do more than that.Its going to always be good to get your players back, Bell said. But we still felt like we could win this game.---Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '
