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Simon Yates has won his first Grand Tour title after a largely ceremonial ride into Madrid in the final stage of the Spanish Vuelta, giving British riders a sweep of the season's three biggest races and Australian team Mitchelton-Scott its first major success.
The 26-year-old Englishman was dominant throughout the three-week race across Spain, thriving on the toughest climbs and the flattest routes to secure the victory after a last stage in which riders didn't attack the leaders under cycling tradition.
The win means Britain has swept the three Grand Tours. Geraint Thomas of Wales won the Tour de France in July and Kenyan-born British rider Chris Froome the Giro d'Italia in May.
Froome was the defending Vuelta champion and also won the Tour de France last year, meaning Britain has five straight Grand Tour victories.
"It's astonishing really," Yates said.
"Growing up I was so accustomed to seeing the French, Italian and Spanish riders lead the way, so for myself, Chris and Geraint to all win a Grand Tour in the same year just shows how far the sport has come in this country."
Thomas and Froome skipped the race in Spain this year.
Italian rider Elia Viviani won the final sprint for his third stage win in this year's Vuelta, with Peter Sagan close behind him.
Yates, who rides for team Mitchelton-Scott, successfully defended his lead of almost two minutes in the demanding 20th stage,
On Sunday, riders mostly paraded in a 100.9-kilometre route from the city of Alcorcon to the centre of the Spanish capital.
Yates held the leader's red jersey through stages 9-11, then won stage 14 in the north-western Picos de Europa mountains to take full control of the race until the end.
Spain's Enric Mas, from team Quick-Step Floors, won Saturday's difficult stage in Andorra and finished second in the general classification, 1 minute, 46 seconds behind Yates. Miguel Angel Lopez of Colombia, from the Astana Pro Team, was third, more than two minutes off the lead.
Veteran Spaniard Alejandro Valverde was in contention from the first day but failed to keep pace with Yates on Saturday, dropping to fifth for Movistar in the final overall standings. Steven Kruijswijk of Team Lotto NL-Jumbo finished ahead of Valverde in fourth place.
The Mitchelton-Scott team was able to celebrate a victory in one of cycling's big three races in its seventh year of operation.
"How fantastic is this? Our first Grand Tour," team owner Gerry Ryan said to the team's YouTube channel ahead of the final stage.
"What a team. What great staff. It's been a fantastic effort the past three weeks."
"Congratulations to everyone and thanks [to] all the fans."
Yates himself had been coming to terms with his breakthrough victory since he made it unscathed through the penultimate stage, the last competitive one since the peloton took off from Malaga on August 25.
"Finally. I think it's still sinking in," Yates said at the conclusion of the 20th stage.
"I'm incredibly proud, of the team also. They have carried me through this entire three weeks."
"It's the first Grand Tour for the team, it's just unbelievable."
Yates came so close to winning his maiden Grand Tour title in May at the Giro, but was denied by a spectacular blow-up on the penultimate mountain stage.
"I feel much better now that we have finished, it was a really crazy day and fast," he said after stage 20.
"Once again, I want to thank the team. Everybody really stepped up, even the big guys who you didn't expect to be there on the climbs. They were just unbelievable, a really incredible day."
Yates made his Grand Tour debut in the 2014 Tour de France. In last year's Tour, he won the young rider's classification, finishing seventh overall.
Mitchelton-Scott were formed in 2012, the same year that the British Team Sky claimed their maiden Tour de France title.
That the Brits managed to achieve a Grand Tour victory in three years in no way detracts from Mitchelton-Scott's achievement in winning one in its seventh.
The British team entered the world tour with the primary objective of winning the Tour de France.
The Australians initially targeted the Classics and stage wins.
In recent years however, Mitchelton-Scott have shifted from a focus on winning stages and the one day Classics to the general classification jerseys at Grand Tours.
They came close in the first Grand Tour of the season at the Giro d'Italia with Yates, but the Englishman blew up on the 19th stage, losing almost 40 minutes to eventual winner Froome.
The Australian team came close to Grand Tour success with Colombian rider Esteban Chavez, who finished in fifth place at the 2015 Vuelta before standing on the podium at both the Giro (2nd) and Vuelta (3rd) in 2016, the same year that Simon's twin brother Adam wore the white jersey into Paris at the Tour de France.
Simon won that same white jersey — awarded to the best young rider [under the age of 26] — the following year, but was unable to challenge this season as his British compatriot Geraint Thomas stunned the cycling world with an unexpected victory.
With Yates's victory in the Vuelta, the Bury-born rider has completed a rare double, earning Great Britain its third Grand Tour win of the year.
In fact, British riders have now won the last five Grand Tours, an unprecedented achievement.
ABC/AP
Topics: sport, cycling, spain, australia, england
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