Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) won the Vuelta a Espana title on Sunday to complete an unprecedented hat-trick of British Grand Tour winners in 2018.
Yates successfully defended his lead of one minute 46 seconds over second-placed Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) in the final stage of the race, a mostly processional 100.9km ride through Madrid which was won by Eli Viviani (Quick-Step Floors).
Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) finished third overall, two minutes four seconds behind, joining Mas and Yates on the podium.
Yates became the virtual winner of the Vuelta after finishing third in Saturday’s penultimate stage in the mountains of Andorra, making up for his collapse towards the end of the Giro D’Italia after wearing the pink jersey in 13 stages.
He delivered a first Grand Tour victory for the Australian-owned Mitchelton-Scott team and completed a cycle of British victories in the three Grand Tours this year after Chris Froome won the Giro in May and Geraint Thomas captured the Tour de France in July.
“It feels great. Really unbelievable, I think it’s still sinking in. I have no words, it’s just really unbelievable. I like to race on my instinct and I hope that I continue to do so and achieve more big results like today at the Vuelta a Espana”, said Yates.
Etapa 21 | Stage 21 #LaVuelta18
?? Vive el último kilómetro de la victoria de @eliaviviani gracias a @CarrefourES ?? Live the last km. of Viviani’s victory thanks to @CarrefourES#CarrefourConLaVuelta pic.twitter.com/BBg5OFV5vu — La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 16, 2018
Vuelta a Espana 2018 – stage 21 results (Alcorcón – Madrid):
| 1 | Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) | 2:21:28 |
| 2 | Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 3 | Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 4 | Danny van Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 5 | Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 6 | Jon Aberasturi (Euskadi-Murias) | ,, |
| 7 | Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 8 | Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 9 | Tom Van Asbroeck (EF Education First-Drapac) | ,, |
| 10 | Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 11 | Max Walscheid (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 12 | Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 13 | Aritz Bagües (Euskadi-Murias) | ,, |
| 14 | Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 15 | Omar Fraile (Astana) | ,, |
| 16 | Nelson Andres Soto (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | ,, |
| 17 | Francisco Ventoso (BMC) | ,, |
| 18 | Jesus Ezquerra (Burgos-BH) | ,, |
| 19 | Ivan Garcia (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 20 | Lluis Mas (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | ,, |
Final general classification:
| 1 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 82:05:58 |
| 2 | Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) | +01’46” |
| 3 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +02’04” |
| 4 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +02’54” |
| 5 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +04’28” |
| 6 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +05’57” |
| 7 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac) | +06’07” |
| 8 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +06’51” |
| 9 | Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) | +11’09” |
| 10 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +11’11” |
| 11 | Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) | +12’10” |
| 12 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +14’06” |
| 13 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +17’57” |
| 14 | Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) | +25’40” |
| 15 | David De La Cruz (Team Sky) | +27’38” |
| 16 | Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) | +30’00” |
| 17 | Mikel Bizkarra (Euskadi-Murias) | +35’46” |
| 18 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | +39’53” |
| 19 | Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) | +45’32” |
| 20 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +51’17” |
