Yates seals historic British triple crown

SiMon YATeS crossed the finish line of this year’s Vuelta a espana in central Madrid yesterday to claim his first Grand Tour win and complete a British Grand Slam of cycling success. Yates’s triumph follows Chris Froome’s win in this year’s Giro d’italia and Geraint Thomas’s victory in the Tour de France. As the sun set over the Spanish sierras, Yates and his team-mates toasted yet more British success, expected since the 26-year-old had fended off a late surge from a collective of Spanish and Colombian rivals in the Vuelta’s closing mountain stages. instead, the production line of British success continued unhindered with the boy from Bury making up for his near miss in May at the Giro — Yates (right) had dominated the italian race until the final mountain stages — by following Froome’s Vuelta win of last autumn with his own victory. After surviving last-ditch attacks on Saturday’s final mountain climb, Yates admitted that until then, he ‘truly didn’t believe i could pull it off’. instead of employing the attacking style that left him drained in the final week of the Giro, Yates — who races for Mitchelton Scott alongside twin brother Adam — admitted that he had focused on conserving his energies. ‘it’s just about staying calm and not being too aggressive,’ he said of his tactics in the Vuelta. He said he’d felt much less fatigue in Spain than during his ill-fated leadership of the Giro in May. ‘We made the right calls on the road when needed — by not being too aggressive,’ he said.