Chris Froome has tweeted "better late than never" after being named as the winner of the 2011 Vuelta a Espana.
He's officially been handed the title after Spanish cyclist Juan Jose Cobo was stripped of victory due to doping irregularities.
It' also means Froome is now Britain's first-ever Grand Tour winner - taking the honour from Bradley Wiggins, who won the Tour de France in 2012.
“Better late than never!” he wrote on Twitter. “The 2011 @lavuelta holds some very special memories for me.”
Better late than never! The 2011 @lavuelta holds some very special memories for me ❤️🇪🇸🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/j0zk3LGsGD
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) July 18, 2019
“The Vuelta in 2011 was in many ways my breakthrough race, so this red jersey is special for me. I guess it’s extra special too, because – even though it’s eight years on – it was Britain’s first Grand Tour win," Froome added on the Team Ineos website.
“The Vuelta is a race I love and I have always felt a great connection with it and the Spanish fans.”
The UCI confirmed earlier that Cobo's results from 2009 to 2011 were to be expunged after he was found “guilty of an anti-doping violation (Use of a prohibited substance) based on abnormalities from 2009 and 2011 detected in his Biological Passport”.
“The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) confirms that no statement of appeal has been submitted to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) against the decision of the UCI Anti-doping Tribunal concerning Juan José Cobo Acebo.
“As the deadline for appeal has expired, the three-year suspension against Juan Jose Cobo Acebo is hence confirmed.”
