UPDATE 1-Yates wins Vuelta, completes British 2018 Grand Tour sweep

Simon Yates won the Vuelta an Espana title on Sunday to complete an unprecedented hat-trick of British Grand Tour winners in 2018.

Simon Yates won the Vuelta an Espana title on Sunday to complete an unprecedented hat-trick of British Grand Tour winners in 2018.

Yates, 26, successfully defended his lead of one minute 46 seconds over second-placed Enric Mas of Spain in the final stage of the 21-day race, a mostly processional 100.9km ride through Madrid, where Italian Elia Viviani took a third stage win of this year's Vuelta by pipping Peter Sagan in a bunch sprint.

Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez finished third overall, two minutes four seconds behind.

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's astonishing really," Yates told the official website of British Cycling https://www.britishcycling.org.uk.

"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. It hasn't happened by accident and I'm so thankful to everybody who has been part of the journey."

2017 Vuelta winner Froome, who like Thomas sat out the final Grand Tour of the year in order to race the Tour of Britain, added: "Simon has looked so strong over the last three weeks and it's great to see him take home the red jersey. It's been a perfect year for British riders."