Yates wins Tour of Spain as Viviani CLAIMS INAL STAGE

Simon Yates stepped out of the shadows of British cycling giants Sky this week to secure his maiden Grand Tour triumph at the Tour of Spain for his Mitchelton team. Yates, a former track racer whose road racing talents took him to the brink of victory in this year’s Giro d’italia, all but wrapped up an overall victory this week after yet another strong inish on the inal mountain stage. After a largely processional inal stage to Madrid claimed by Elia Viviani in a bunch sprint, the 26-yearold Englishman triumphed with a winning time of 82hr 5min 58sec, Enric Mas inishing second overall at 1:46 and Miguel Angel Lopez completing the podium. “It’s a really unbelievable experience. You know I was even nervous today coming into the circuit. Anything could happen, but now I inally pull it off, it’s unbelievable,” said Yates. It was Yates’ irst victory in a three-week race and comes months after the stinging disappointment of losing the Giro d’italia, having controlled the race for much of the opening two weeks last May. On that occasion, Sky leader Chris Froome capitalised on Yates’ collapse in the mountains to secure the race’s pink jersey and seal his third consecutive Grand Tour after winning the Tour de France and Tour of Spain in 2017.