I F AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED...

The experience of the Giro d’Italia, where Simon Yates looked incredible for two and a half weeks, and then awful for two days, might have had lasting psychological repurcussions for many riders. The Brit had wilted under Sky’s onslaught on the penultimate mountain stage of the first grand tour of the year, getting dropped before the real action - Froome riding away with his pink jersey - had even happened. Observers opined that this would forever be Yates’s problem in a grand tour - he was unable to last three weeks. That theory itself lasted all of three weeks at the Vuelta a España. Yates reined in the attacking instincts that had gained him the pink jersey in Italy but had tired him out for the final weekend. Apart from one early attack, he and his Mitchelton team kept things steady. Yates still led for long portions of the race, but he was keeping his powder dry. The crunch came on stage 19, as it had in the Giro. But this time instead of going backwards, Yates finally let rip, putting his rivals and also any talk that he couldn’t last the length of a grand tour well behind him. The advantage he built on the Coll de la Rabassa was both enough to win him the race and also psychologically kill his rivals. At the Giro, Yates was easily the strongest rider early in the race, but he used his energy too profligately, though it was fun to watch. By the Vuelta, he’d learned to ride more with his head. That combination of brains and brawn has now won him a grand tour.