Second coming
Yates back on top at Vuelta
Whisper it quietly but, after a tumultuous couple of years, there is a bit of a spring returning to British Cycling’s step. These are certainly unprecedented days in terms of race results. Never before has Britain enjoyed such domination of the world’s biggest stage races.
After Chris Froome won the Giro d’Italia in May, and Geraint Thomas triumphed at the Tour de France in July, Simon Yates reclaimed the lead of the Vuelta a Espana yesterday – the third and final grand tour of the season – in emphatic fashion.
A perfectly judged attack enabled him to win stage 14, beating a select group of his general classification rivals on a steep uphill finish at Les Praeres in Asturias.
Yates, who went within a whisker of beating Froome at the Giro before hitting the wall in the final two days, is fast closing in on what would be a historic achievement, not only for himself but for British cycling in general.
If he can hang on in the final week of this Vuelta, not only would it be the first grand tour victory of the 26-yearold Bury rider’s career, it would be the first time one country has won all three grand tours in the same year with three different riders.
To cap a successful day for British Cycling, at almost exactly the same time as Yates was crossing the line in Spain, another former GB academy rider, Ian Stannard, took the penultimate stage of the OVO Energy Tour of Britain.
It has been a lean 18 months for the Chelmsford-born Stannard, who enjoys a reputation for being one of the most sadistic riders in the peloton, as well as one of the nicest off the bike. He was in full sadist mode yesterday, dishA ing out pain to the rest of the peloton. It was the 31-year-old Stannard who initiated the day’s five-man breakaway just 20 kilometres into stage seven, the longest of the race, 215km from West Bridgford to Mansfield.
Stannard eventually rode the other four escapees off his wheel, dropping the last of them, Germany’s Nils Politt, with 16km to go to win by 59sec.
The GC remained unchanged, with France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) retaining his 17-second advantage over Wout Poels (Team Sky) and Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) heading into today’s final stage, a central London criterium.
If it was not for the fact so many domestic teams are struggling for finance at the moment, with lots of background rumblings this week about the lack of value in the lower echelons of the sport, British Cycling would feel pretty happy about how things have gone in the biggest race on the domestic calendar. win for Yates at the Vuelta would certainly help to paper over any cracks. While Froome’s victory at the Giro and Thomas’s at the Tour were arguably more prestigious achievements – the Vuelta is very much seen as the “third grand tour” in every sense – a win for Yates might just be the most significant of all.
He would, after all, be the first nonSky rider to win one of cycling’s three grand tours. Proof that you do not have to go through Sir Dave Brailsford’s squad to reach the very top, or require Sky’s financial muscle to do so.
He said he felt like he “deserved” the red leader’s jersey this time, having taken it almost “by accident” in the first week.
“Yeah, it was very difficult,” Yates said of the final climb, which he tackled alongside GC rivals Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar). Yates went solo with 700 metres remaining to increase his lead over Valverde – who finished third on the stage – to 20 seconds on GC, with Quintana a further five seconds back.
“It was a very difficult stage,” Yates added. “But I chose that moment really well. I didn’t look back until it flattened off a bit and I had a bit of a gap so [I just gave] everything to the line.
“I feel a bit more like I deserve it this time. I gave everything I could in the end. I’m very happy.” The Vuelta continues today with arguably the toughest stage of the entire race, a huge summit finish to Lagos de Covadonga.