Yates’s Giro d’Italia triumph seven years in the making

For every super-talent like Tadej Pogacar, every young star like Isaac del Toro, are several figures like Simon Yates.

- FLO CLIFFORD

In a sport that is all too quick to leap on the newest, brightest and youngest talent, Yates’s Giro d'Italia title was a victory of hard graft, of fighting through adversity, a very human rider exorcising his demons and earning the sweetest of rewards.

The 32-year-old has gone through heartbreak at this race. The maglia rosa was his to lose in 2018, and lose it he did as illness – and Chris Froome – struck at the worst possible time.

But this year Yates came in high on confidence. Seven years on from the day his Giro tilt utterly collapsed, on the punishing slopes of the Finestre, he picked his moment. He rode a tactically astute race, moving slowly up the overall standings over the first week, staying under the radar, never putting himself too far into the red. All race he bided his time, staying in touch with his rivals and matching their moves. Now he let them blow each other up as he rode away with the race victory.

To some degree part of Yates’s second grand tour win – which puts him second in the rankings for British men, only behind Froome’s monumental seven – was down to Del Toro and Richard Carapaz’s kamikaze mission in the crucial moments of stage 20. Everyone knew the race came down to that day; the margins were small enough that Del Toro’s lead could very easily go up in smoke. But as the pair failed to work together to chase down Yates’s decisive attack, it became clear that they were riding for podium spots and nothing more.