Chris Froome became the first British rider to win the Giro d’Italia after three weeks of incredible racing in Italy and Israel.

The Team Sky rider completed a Grand Tour Grand Slam - adding the Giro title to his Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana crowns.

But for much of the action in Italy it seemed as if another British rider would come out on top in Rome.

Mitchelton-Scott’s Simon Yates claimed the pink jersey at stage six after a breakaway up Mount Etna with teammate Esteban Chaves.

The Bury rider then won stage nine in Gran Sasso to extend his lead to 32 seconds before also claiming stage 11 in Osimo to lead the Giro by 47 seconds at the halfway mark.

The fearsome Monte Zoncolan climb at stage 14 saw a British one-two, with Froome winning his first stage of the 2018 Giro from Yates – a result that saw the Mitchelton-Scott rider extend his lead by a further 37 seconds.

If stage 14 was good for Yates, then the following day was even better. On the 176km route from Tolmezzo to Sappada, the British rider broke away on his own to win by 41 seconds – giving him a lead of over two minutes in the final week of racing.

Yates lost time to his nearest rival Tom Dumoulin at the time trial – as expected – but with a lead of 56 seconds, was still the odds-on favourite for the title.

But he saw his lead halved on stage 18 before a dramatic stage 19 saw a result no-one had predicted.

Froome – over three minutes behind Yates at the start of the day – attacked alone on the Colle delle Finestre and raced solo for 80km, winning the stage by three minutes to claim the maglia rosa for the first time in the race.

Yates’ brave challenge had come to an end – but the Bury rider showed a maiden Grand Tour victory must surely be in the offing soon.

For Froome, he was untroubled on the penultimate stage before a procession through the streets of Rome saw him cross the line arm-in-arm with his teammates to claim a famous victory.