Sir Bradley Wiggins has thrown buckets of praise at Ineos Grenadiers after they dominated the recent Volta a Catalunya, taking all three spots on the podium with Adam Yates taking the overall title.
Ineos Grenadiers showed that they have huge strength in depth at the Volta a Catalunya, not only by taking the overall as well as second and third, but also by winning two stage at the seven-day Spanish stage-race.
>>> Five things we learned from the Volta a Catalunya 2021
Wiggins heaped the praise on his former team in his podcast for Eurosport where he said: "They made a statement with the team they selected.
"Adam [Yates] has now come of age, it is fair to say, within that team. He has always been very consistent, but he has now come of age.
"Probably the icing on the cake [for Yates] was going to Ineos, really. It's the perfect team for him. Adam is the next British star and these are the early stages."
The opening stage in Catalunya saw the British super-team sit back and let other teams work before the stage two time trial, where they managed to get four riders in the top ten on the day, including the stage win with Rohan Dennis.
Yates didn't take the jersey until stage three when he attacked clear of everyone else on the summit finish, dropping the likes of his brother, Simon, as well as Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and many more to take the lead by 45 seconds over his team-mate, Richie Porte.
After that is was back to the old style of racing for Ineos who controlled every bit of each stage, not allowing time gaps to stretch and even getting Geraint Thomas onto the podium at just 49 seconds down.
Thomas' former team-mate, Wiggins, was very pleased with the Welshman's performance: "G [Thomas] needed a performance and he showed that. It wasn't about winning for him, it was about the Tour de France
"He looked every bit the G, even without winning, that he did a few years ago when he won the Tour and he will be a real threat this year.
"That performance from Geraint has cemented his leadership for the Tour, because he has shared out the spoils and everything is on track."
The only potential disappointment for the team was that 2019 Giro d'Italia winner, Richard Carapaz, finished down in 21st place at 7-27 down on Yates. While this was the Ecuadorian's first race back after a huge altitude training camp back in Ecuador, he may have expected better things.
Adam Yates is next expected to race at the GP Miguel Indurain this Saturday (April 3) alongside Carapaz as well as last year's Giro winner, Tao Geoghegan Hart.
