Simon Yates produced an impressive time trial display to hold off fellow Brit Geraint Thomas and win Tirreno-Adriatico.

Yates held a 38-second lead over his Welsh rival heading into the 10km effort in San Benedetto del Tronto on Monday, with Thomas widely considered the more accomplished rider in the solo discipline.

Thomas claimed a strong fourth place finish on the stage but only managed to recover 22 seconds on Yates, meaning the Bury-born climber took the overall victory.

The 28 year-old’s triumph comes less than two weeks after his twin brother, Adam, took the yellow jersey at the Tour de France for the first time, becoming the ninth British rider in history to do so.

Thomas’ teammate Filippo Ganna won the final stage with a breathtaking time of ten minutes and 42 seconds. 

But it was not all disappointment for Thomas as he did overhaul Rafa Majka to claim second in the general classification and will be feeling positive about his condition heading into the three-week Giro d’Italia at the beginning of October.

Thomas was not picked by Ineos for the Tour de France - despite having won the race in 2018 - as the team felt both he and four-time winner Chris Froome were not at the required level to compete there.

Instead, Thomas is targeting the Giro and Froome will make his first Grand Tour start since his serious crash last year in the Vuelta Espana next month.

Bradley Wiggins, who rode for Team Sky (now Team Ineos Grenadiers), questioned boss Dave Brailsford’s decision to leave Thomas and Froome out of the Tour squad after their leader Egan Bernal cracked and virtually lost any hope of winning the race on Sunday.

He said: "It’s a line-up that is so unlike the Sky and Ineos of the past. We’ve just Luke Rowe in there it’s not the team it was from a British perspective of course. 

"It’s just lacking something, an experienced head to just call those shots. A Geraint in that team just changes the whole dynamic. It’ll transpire in the next few weeks what exactly happened."