British rider Adam Yates produces the biggest win of his career to claim Volta a Catalunya title with ‘perfect team performance’ as team-mate Geraint Thomas finishes third
- Bury-born Adam Yates won the general classification with a strong performance
- The result marks the first ever one-two-three for Team Ineos (formerly Team Sky)
- Chris Froome, riding for new team Israel Start-Up Nation, had a nightmare race
British rider Adam Yates recorded the biggest triumph of his career by winning the Volta a Catalunya on Sunday
Bury-born Yates took the general classification win in a first-ever one-two-three for Team Ineos, formerly Team Sky. Team-mates Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas completed the podium, 45 and 49 seconds off the lead respectively.
‘It was a perfect team performance,’ said 28-year-old Yates, the first British winner of the Volta a Catalunya since Robert Millar in 1985.
British rider Adam Yates has won the general classification of the Volta a Catalunya race
It is definitely Yates’ biggest career victory – he described it as a ‘perfect team performance’
‘And it’s a really special day today. We came here with big ambitions, but getting the top three is way beyond our expectations.’
Fellow Lancastrian Hugh Carthy finished eighth, 1min 20sec behind, with Yates’s twin brother Simon 1min 32sec off the lead.
Yates took the lead in Wednesday’s third stage, after a tough climb on the Vallter 2000. He completed the time trial and did well on the climb of Port Aine in the fourth stage.
The result marks the first ever one-two-three for Team Ineos (formerly known as Team Sky)
He kept a commanding lead going into the final day, which finished in Montjuic Park in Barcelona, with Thomas de Gendt of Lotto Soudal winning the final stage.
But the only real threat to his quest for the green-and-white jersey was from his own team-mates, despite a good effort from fourth-placed Alejandro Valverde.
It is his first GC win for Ineos having joined this winter. ‘To win so early in the season is a really special feeling,’ he added.
Ex-Tour de France winner Chris Froome had a nightmare race and finished 53 minutes behind
Welshman Thomas, who will look to emulate his 2018 Tour de France win this summer, said: ‘It was good to be back on a podium.
‘To be honest, it was never really a goal at the start of the year to be going quite so well so early.’
Chris Froome, riding for new team Israel Start-Up Nation and still in recovery from a series of injuries, had a nightmare race and finished 53 minutes off the lead.