British riders' wins in the Grand Tours: From Robinson to Yates

Chris Froome on podium, Tour de France 2013, stage 21

published 1 July 2015

Brian Robinson was the first back in 1958. Since then, Mark Cavendish has racked up win after win and Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France in 2012. And Chris Froome has become Britain's most successful Grand Tour rider, after claiming his third Tour overall win in 2016.

Here are all of Britain's stage (and overall) wins in the three grand tours - Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

Later in his career Hoban was rarely allowed to get away in breaks because he was feared for his sprinting ability but in 1969 he did it two days in row, becoming the first Brit to win on consecutive days in the Tour. In Bordeaux he sneaked into a break of five on the run-in and won. The bunch didn't learn their lesson and there was a sense of inevitability among the four he joined on the escape in Brive.

The stage that made Millar a superstar was a 226-kilometre monster. After catching and passing Jean-Rene Bernaudeau he was left with Luis Herrera and Pedro Delgado again before attacking in the closing kilometres to win. "In the final stages I knew Herrera was coming up fast so I put in an extra burst just to make sure he didn't catch me." This win gave Millar the polka-dot jersey, which he was to keep all the way to Paris.

In 1985 Millar became the first British rider to finish on the podium in one of the three grand tours when he took second place in that spring's Vuelta. It should have been first and would have been but for a Spanish combine on the penultimate day that left the Scot stranded, to Pedro Delgado's advantage. In 1986 Millar hit back at the Vuelta, winning the first mountain stage of the race, at Lagos de Covadonga, to take the yellow jersey, which he held for five days. He went on to finish second overall again, this time to Alvaro Pino, who proved the stronger rider in the time trials.

The Scottish climber became the first Brit to win a stage in each of the grand tours when he won at Pila to clinch second place overall and the green king of the mountains jersey. He was one of four Panasonic riders in the top ten overall but was 3-40 down on winner Stephen Roche. Millar was accused of working for Roche when the Irish rider enraged his team-mate Roberto Visentini (the defending champion) by taking the pink jersey.

Yates, riding for Fagor, clipped off the front with about seven kilometres to go. Another British rider, Deno Davie of the Carrera team, went with him but Yates beat him easily in the sprint. The Fagor team was having a torrid year. It's leader, the world champion Stephen Roche, was plagued with injury and the management and sponsor were anxious and disorganised. Yates' victory came in spite of the sponsor, not because of it.

Millar loved the Pyrenees - all three of his Tour stage wins came here - and this was the best of the lot because of the two riders he was with and the gap they opened up over the rest. Pedro Delgado - Millar's nemesis - had lost almost three minutes by missing his start time at the prologue, so as soon as the race reached the mountains he set about recovering as much as he could. That meant that when Millar found himself with the Spaniard, and another favourite Charly Mottet, he knew they'd be chased. Millar crossed all three cols in first place but on the final climb to Superbagneres they took turns attacking each other. Late on Delgado looked to have it but Millar fought back and then went past him. The trio had put more than three minutes into the rest.

Technically, Sciandri was still an Italian when he rode the 1995 Tour but he'd already stated his intention to apply for a British racing licence. (The Italians can keep his three Giro stages, though!) With the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta on the horizon, and professional riders allowed to compete for the first time, Sciandri knew his chances of getting in the Italian squad were limited. So he drew on his British roots (he was born in Derby) and applied for a British licence. In Atlanta he won a bronze medal in the road race. In St Etienne, during the 1995 Tour, he got away with the Colombian climber Hernan Buenahora. The pair contested the sprint, which Sciandri clinched.

By his own admission, this was the most surprising of his three Tour prologue wins. Going into the race he felt he did not have the required form to win. In front of a huge Dublin crowd who supported Boardman as if one of their own, he blasted round the course and ended up four seconds quicker than his nearest rival, Abraham Olano. Boardman's Tour ended in the back of an ambulance again, though, when he crashed on the second road stage before the race even returned to France.

On stage four, Millar lost the yellow jersey to Botero after a crash in the closing kilometres, then the pair of them fell right down the overall classification on stage five, a mountain stage to Lagos de Covadonga. It meant that on stage six they were free to go hunting again. Millar got in a break of seven with 25 kilometres to go, then attacked over the top of a third-category climb and took Botero with him. It was a strange finish, on a pathway around a sports stadium but Millar just about managed to win a very long, compelling sprint ahead of the Kelme rider.

This was the rainy day that Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich went head to head to decide the Tour. That morning the American led the German by 1-05 and it was feasible, even if it was a long shot, that the lead could change hands. In the event Ullrich had a disaster, Armstrong, hearing the news of his rival's crash, eased off, and Millar came through to win by nine seconds from Tyler Hamilton. Millar's average speed of 54.361kph over 46 kilometres is the second-fastest time trial in Tour history. The quickest was Greg LeMond's on a 24.5km, slightly downhill course, from Versailles to Paris. It makes Millar's ride an astonishing one.

Back in action after a two-year ban for admitting to using the banned drug EPO, Millar chose the hottest possible environment for his competitive return - the Tour de France. He got through the race in decent shape and then headed to the Vuelta, where he won the time trial at Cuenca and said: "I want everyone to understand I am doing this on nothing, on bread and water. I won and I am 100 per cent clean."

Bradley Wiggins clinched his biggest win on the road on Team Sky's first day of Grand Tour action. It was close, on a day when the drizzle made the city centre course in Amsterdam trickier than it would have been in the dry. Banishing all thoughts of the 2009 Giro time trial in Rome, when he was beaten by a single second, Wiggins gave it everything and ended the day with the pink jersey. After Cavendish, he's the second British rider to wear it.

After a difficult start to the Tour, Cavendish finally got his first stage win of the race with a decisive sprint following a superb lead-out from his team-mate Mark Renshaw. The previous day, Cavendish had been well beaten and flung his bike down when he got back to the team bus. Then his helmet came flying out of the bus in anger. He later said he'd been unable to get his chain onto the 11 sprocket. But in Montargis, everything went to plan and Cavendish was back on top.

Cavendish had to go for a long one in a chaotic, ill-disciplined sprint that saw Julian Dean try to close the door on Cavendish's lead-out man, Mark Renshaw. Renshaw hit back with three head-butts at Dean to stop him changing his line. Renshaw then shut the door on Farrar. None of this would have changed the result because Cavendish went early and won decisively. It was his 13th Tour de France stage - meaning he overtook Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini in the all-time list of stage winners.

HTC-Highroad were on the front of the bunch for almost the entire stage and set up the sprint superbly. They had four men at the front as they entered the technical finale in Ravenna. Good job too, because just behind them someone overcooked a left-hand corner and only 15 or so made it through to contest the finish. Sky's David Appollonio launched a spirited late run at the line but Cavendish had enough to clinch the seventh Giro stage of his career.

Kenyan-born Froome went into the Vuelta's 17th stage just 22 seconds behind race leader Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC). Froome launched a final kilometre attack on Cobo up the steep ramp to Peña Cabarga in an attempt to move into the race lead. Cobo was quickly distanced, but with some level-headed riding managed to regain contact with Froome. Just as it looked as though Cobo was going to take the stage win, Froome mustered up the energy to pass the Spaniard and win his first grand tour stage. He went on to finish second overall.

Badly bruised and sporting road rash down his left side from a crash on stage three, Cavendish wanted to make amends for missing out on that day's sprint finale - and to make up for a disappointing ninth place for Sky in the previous day's team time trial. With girlfriend Peta Todd and newborn daughter Delilah waiting on the line, Cavendish gave his family cause to cheer after a near-perfect lead-out from Sky, beating Goss to take his second win of the 2012 Giro.

After losing weight to contest the hilly Olympic Games road race later in July and the lack of a comprehensive lead-out train at Sky there was a question mark over whether the Manxman had retained his killer sprint against the most on-form riders in the world - not least stage one winner Peter Sagan. The answer came on stage two, where Cavendish picked his way through his rivals in the finale to take the win with apparent ease.

The Kenyan-born British rider took his first Tour stage after Sky collectively shattered the peloton up the steep final ascent to La Planche des Belles Filles after a crash-marred opening week. Defending champ Cadel Evans (BMC) launched a late attack, Froome countered leaving team-mate Bradley Wiggins to catch up with Evans. The result was a win for Froome and the yellow jersey - and third on the stage - for Wiggins. Froome also temporarily took the lead in the King of the Mountains classification, before finishing the race second overall.

Millar worked his way into the day's escape group on the longest stage of the 2012 race. As the bunch took it easy after the day's opening pair of category one climbs, the break was allowed to build up a 12-minute advantage. Millar followed a late attack by Jean-Christophe Peraud up the rise to the line, and easily out-paced the Frenchman in the two-up sprint to take his first Tour stage win since 2003.

Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France after spending the first week in second spot behind prologue winner Fabian Cancellara, taking the yellow jersey in the race's first mountain stage and then extending his lead in the race's two time trials, Alps and Pyrenees. British team-mate Chris Froome placed second overall, and the pair were unstoppable in both the mountains and against the clock.

The Welshman claimed his first Tour stage win with an impressive ride in the opening 8.7km time trial in Dusseldorf. Thomas started the race as a protected rider in Team Sky, but not as the leader. Chris Froome unsurprisingly retains that role. Thomas would hold on to the yellow jersey until La Planche des Belles Filles, where Froome took over as leader. Thomas would eventually crash out on stage 9 to Chambery.

The Team Sky rider sealed his fourth Tour de France victory despite not winning a single stage this year. His overall victory - 54 seconds over Rigoberto Uran - is the closest one yet, and perhaps the least convincing. The British rider only once looked to be in trouble, on the final ramp to the finish to Peyragudes where he lost 22 seconds in the final few hundred metres. After that he, and his team mates always looked to be in control. The margin and nature of the win led some to question whether or not this was his last GT win.

NB: Froome's victory was later called in to question following an adverse analytical finding for Salbutamol. Froome has always used an inhaler, but the result suggested he had 'overused' it on stage 19 and was leaked to the press. Salbutamol is a controlled substance and as such a rider has the chance to defend themselves after an AAF. If they do so successfully the test is kept private. It is only made public should a sanction be handed out. Froome was eventually found to be innocent although the case was only resolved the week before the 2018 Tour de France started.

Already wearing the leader's pink jersey, Simon Yates took the race by the scruff of the neck with a controlled sprint to the line at the end of a brutal 225km stage. Yates had gifted the stage win on Mount Etna to his team mate Esteban Chaves, but today took the win himself - his first in a Grand Tour. Astana had done most of the work today, but the racking eventually worked out perfectly for Mitchleton Scott.

Once again leaving his effort until late, Simon Yates took his second stage win and extended his lead on a steep uphill finish to Osimo. Yates was looking increasingly dominant although his team's tactics were handed a blow with Esteban Chaves dropping away. Tom Dumoulin was growing ever stronger and sitting in second place looked to be Yates's biggest challenger at this stage. Chris Froome was outside of the top ten on GC.

Froome charged back in to contention with a solo win on the top of Monte Zoncalon. He attacked with 4km to go and held off Simon Yates by just six seconds. Dumoulin lost more time, but stayed in second place overall. Froome admitted he was tired, and focused on the stage win rather than being drawn in on what he could go on to do, suggesting a grand slam of Grand Tour may not be on the cards. His win moved him up to fifth overall.

At the end of what had been an aggressive and exciting race, Chris Froome delivered the unexpected knockout blow. Attacking alone with 80km to go he pulled off one of the rides of the decade to take the stage win and the overall classification. The peloton split to pieces early on this brutal stage that was always going to be decisive. Froome attacked on the slopes of the Colle delle Finestre and rode solo to the finish in a dramatic chase between him and Tom Dumoulin. Having dominated the race throughout, Simon Yates capitulated early on and dropped out of contention

Thomas became the first Briton to win on top of the Alp with a finishing sprint a crit rider would have been proud of. Riding in the yellow jersey Thomas had followed moves by Dumoulin and Froome lower down the hairpins as none of the favourites looked like they could break away. Approaching the final left hand bend, Thomas swung right and then cut across the corner maintaining all his speed and exciting the corner with five bike lengths lead. He then opened up the sprint as the stage was as good as won.

Three grand tours, three different British winners. No nation has ever achieved such a feat. For Yates it was redemption having fallen so spectacularly from grace late on in the Giro in May. After his swashbuckling and spectacular riding at the Giro, the Brit from Bury played it safe in Spain. Consistently finishing in the top five on mountain stages, only losing a few seconds to different riders each time, and crucially saving his energy. In complete control his winning margin eaked out to almost two minutes over Enric Mas by the end of the race.

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Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.

British riders' wins in the Grand Tours: From Robinson to Yates

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