BRITISH SUCCESS

Simon Yates’ win in La Vuelta means British cyclists have won the last five Grand Tours - triumphing in France, Italy and Spain - and nine of the last 21 editions of those races.

Yates follows fellow 2018 winners Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas into the history books.

Here we look at British success in cycling’s most prestigious races.

Tour de France

2012: Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first British Grand Tour winner with victory in the 99th staging of the race. Chris Froome was second.

2013: Froome won the leadership duel with Wiggins and the 100th edition of the Tour. Wiggins’ non-selection means he has never returned to the race.

2015: After crashing out with a fractured wrist and hand in 2014, when

the race started in Yorkshire, Froome returned to claim a second Tour victory despite nursing a chest infection in the final days of racing.

2016: Froome’s third win was sealed in dominant fashion, by more than four minutes from his nearest rival, despite Froome having to run up Mont Ventoux when his bike was damaged in a crash.

2017: Win No 4 for Froome, at the start of a sequence in which he held all three Grand Tours at the same time. He did not win a stage on this occasion, but secured the yellow jersey to show himself as the greatest stage racer of his generation.

2018 (Thomas win): Froome, pictured, sneaked on to the podium behind Team Sky colleague Geraint Thomas, who fulfilled his potential after years of being the supporting act by winning in Paris. It gave Team Sky and Britain six wins from seven Tours.

La Vuelta 2017: After finishing second in 2011, 2014 and 2016, Froome finally won La Vuelta’s red jersey, becoming the third man to win the Tour-vuelta double. He later had to explain an elevated reading of the asthma medication salbutamol and was cleared nine months later.

2018: Yates is the first British Grand Tour winner not to ride for Team Sky, competing instead for Australia’s Mitchelton-scott with his twin brother Adam. At 26, the prodigiously talented pair have plenty of opportunities to add to this success.

Giro d’italia

2018: With the salbutamol case unresolved at the time, Froome’s participation was controversial. But in a stunning solo win on stage 19, he seized the pink jersey and a first British Giro success.