Cycling great Sir Bradley Wiggins has claimed Simon Yates would have not have achieved his historic La Vuelta success had he chosen to pursue his career with Britain's Team Sky.
British rider Yates had been widely expected to join Team Sky in the wake of his points race triumph at the World Track Championships in in 2013, but the move was never sealed over confusion relating to the role of his twin brother Adam.
Instead the brothers both now ride for Mitchelton-Scott, giving the Australian men's team their first Grand Tour winner in Sunday's race conclusion.
Britain's former Team Sky stalwart and 2012 Tour de France winner Wiggins believes Yates' decision to steer clear of one of the sport's most pre-eminent teams enabled him to storm to victory in Madrid on Sunday.
Wiggins told Europort: "If he'd gone to Sky, I don't think he'd have won the Vuelta.
"It was sliding doors moment, whether his career would have gone down this path. By nature of the fact that Sky wouldn't take Adam as well in one package, he's ended up finding a great team and won a grand tour at 26."
Wiggins' opinions appear to stem from Team Sky's habit of signing up young rising stars to act as so-called "super-domestiques" to their leading grand tour contenders, in recent years mostly Chris Froome.
Ironically, any belated move by Team Sky to sign up Yates as a leading rider in the wake of his success could be complicated by their own zero-tolerance policy and Yates' positive test for terbutaline in 2016.
Wiggins said Yates deserved extra praise for the way in which he fought back from his disappointment in the Giro d'Italia just four months ago, when a nightmare stage 19 plunged him out of contention.
Yates himself claimed on Monday that even with his historic win in La Vuelta he will never be a "superstar".
"We have had many successes now but if you compare it to football or any other sport it's still a small sport," he told the BBC.
"I don't think I'll ever be a superstar, but that's fine by me because that's not my character. I'm quite a laid-back guy, I like to relax on my own.
"I really just want to celebrate this victory first. This is the first Grand Tour for the team; it's a really historic moment.
"We were really focused just to cross the finish line, really complete the job well and it was just an unbelievable journey.
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