Simon Yates strikes a big blow on the penultimate day of the 108th Giro d'Italia. The Briton replaces the young Mexican Isaac Del Toro as leader in the queen stage with almost 4500 meters of climbing.
31.05.2025, 16:46
31.05.2025, 16:51
SDA
Because the leader is traditionally not attacked on the last stage of a three-week tour, Simon Yates is likely to be the overall winner in Rome on Sunday.
The 32-year-old Briton from the Visma-Lease a Bike team was third overall before the final mountain stage on Saturday, 1:21 minutes behind the 21-year-old leader Isaac del Toro. Two weeks after taking the maglia rosa, he could have been the first Mexican to win the Giro.
But Simon Yates had something against it and turned the tables on the difficult stage in the Alps. He reached the finish after 205 km at the mountain arrival in Sestriere with a lead of over five minutes on Del Toro, who will also finish the first Grand Tour of the year on the podium ahead of Richard Carapaz from Ecuador.
If Simon Yates does not crash on the final stage in and around Rome on Sunday, he will win his second Grand Tour seven years after his triumph at the Vuelta. This would make up for what he missed out on in dramatic fashion in 2018. Back then, he completely collapsed in the third-to-last stage of the Giro. As the previously dominant leader, he lost almost 40 minutes to the day's winner and subsequent Giro winner Chris Froome.
The stage that proved to be Simon Yates' undoing led, as on Saturday, over the legendary Colle delle Finestre, the very Alpine pass on which he caused the final upset in the overall classification with an attack this time. In doing so, he made peace with the mountain and reconciled himself with his own fate.
