The face of cycling has dramatically changed since, with Armstrong erased from the records books for doping and British cycling now ruling the Grands Tours. “It has not happened by accident.”Like Thomas, Yates is a pure product of British cycling, having joined the country’s renowned academy program when he was 18 years old. The 1992 Olympics in Barcelona were a milestone in British cycling history. He became an obvious choice for the newly-created Team Sky that Brailsford helped to create and then managed, and was recruited as the team’s leader. “There were no British winners in any of the first 259 Grand Tours, yet following Yates’s victory in Madrid this weekend a British rider has now been victorious in nine of the last 20,” read a British Cycling statement after Yates won the Vuelta.

Source: National Post September 17, 2018 13:52 UTC