The absence of heavyweight rider from the dominant team made for a fascinating race where strategy was the key factor
In the Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain eras, a Giro, Vuelta or Tour de France which lacked the dominant force in professional cycling would have a completely different complexion. Something similar has happened in the six years since Team Sky began to acquire an iron grip on the grand tours, which is why Simon Yates’s victory in the Vuelta a España, like Tom Dumoulin’s in the 2017 Giro, offers a glimpse of what cycling might have become without Dave Brailsford’s drive for world domination.
Like Dumoulin in Italy Yates triumphed in an open race with a kaleidoscopic pattern of ever-changing complexity; the final stage of 101km on Sunday in Madrid, won by Elia Viviani in a bunch sprint, was that rare event in the last three weeks: a predictable day in Spain. The lack of pattern was seen in frequent victories for long-range breakaways, giving teams such as EF Education, Dimension Data, and Cofidis a taste of success that has come rarely this year. There was even, on Thursday at Lleida, a cliff-hanging finish in a flat stage.
Written by William Fotheringham
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/16/simon-yates-vuelta-espana-win-glimpse-world-without-sky under the title “Simon Yates’s Vuelta a España win offers glimpse of world without Sky | William Fotheringham”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
