Simon Yates Wins the Giro d’Italia

Simon Yates of Team Visma-Lease-a-Bike won the Giro d’Italia yesterday.

After Stage 19, he was 1min21 behind leader Isaac del Toro of UAE, with Richard Carapaz of EF Education EasyPost just in front of Yates in second place.

On Stage 20, Yates attacked del Toro and Carapaz on the Colle delle Finestre, where the Lancastrian had cracked in 2018 and lost the Giro.

Del Toro and Carapaz failed to cover Yates’s move, then refused to work with each other on the rest of the climb.

Yates’s teammate Wout van Aert had got into the breakaway earlier in the day, and now waited for his team leader just after the top of the climb. Van Aert towed Yates along the valley road, and Bury’s finest bike rider soloed up to the finish at Sestriere.

As a result, Yates finished the stage 5min13 ahead of Mexican del Toro, and – taking account of the 4s time bonus for finishing the stage in third place – led the GC by 3min56.

These are highlights of Stage 20.

Stage 21 was a sprint stage in Rome, won by Yates’s teammate Olav Kooij. All Yates had to do was finish safely in order to confirm his overall victory, which he did.

Now Yates will ride the Tour de France 2025 as a super-domestique for Jonas Vingegaard.