Making peace with the Giro d'Italia

Simon Yates is already familiar with the feeling of winning a three-week tour. In 2018, he triumphed at the Vuelta a España. He won two stages at the Tour de France. However, the Giro d'Italia is the race he has focused on the most during his career and in which he has repeatedly been dogged by bad luck.

"I'm not an emotional person, but I couldn't hold back the tears," said Yates, who was so emotional he could hardly speak, on the day of his greatest triumph.

It wasn't just any stage in which he clinched the overall classification of the world's second most important cycling tour on the penultimate day. For Simon Yates, it was a day for inner peace. A pink revenge, if you like.

Rewarded for patience and perseverance

The fact that he struck the big blow with an attack on the Colle delle Finestre, of all places, where he suffered the bitterest defeat of his career seven years ago in the battle for overall victory in the Giro, is probably fate. The failure back then, when he completely collapsed on the Alpine pass with its dreaded gravel roads while wearing the leader's jersey and fell out of the decision with a gap of almost 40 minutes, has stayed with him all this time.

A lot has happened in the seven years since he last wore the maglia rosa. Simon Yates is now 32 years old, and this is his first season as a professional with a team that is not called Jayco AlUla. On the advice of his no less successful twin brother Adam Yates, third overall in the 2023 Tour de France and last year's winner of the Tour de Suisse, the Briton has made another change of scenery at an advanced sporting age. He has now been richly rewarded for this move.

Striking at the right moment

"I really invested a lot of my career and my life in this race, and there were a lot of setbacks. And it was hard to deal with," said a visibly moved Simon Yates after his hussar ride on Saturday. He recalled how a knee injury had once forced him to give up, "Covid, illness and so on". He was therefore "really incredulous that I finally managed to pull it off".

In the end, it was a textbook victory. For almost three weeks, Simon Yates kept himself well hidden. He stayed out of the sprints for bonus seconds and didn't run the risk of wasting energy unnecessarily at press conferences. He rode so inconspicuously in the shadow of young star Isaac del Toro and Olympic champion Richard Carapaz that he was almost forgotten. But Simon Yates was always there, always close to them, and when he saw his chance in the final mountain stage, he shook off his two rivals and pulled the thing off ice-cold.

The thought of the many difficult Giro days of the past made Yates' emotions swell again. But it also made this year's victory even sweeter. This time it was him who conquered the climb, not the other way around.