Here is Jeremy Whittle’s Stage 21 report:
Thanks for reading and emailing in. Congratulations to Simon Yates and all the team. See you next time.
“Life comes around, it gives and it takes.”
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“Honestly, I think it’s really still sinking in,” says the Giro d’Italia champion. “What a huge moment in my career, the defining moment maybe. Just incredibly proud of the whole team over three weeks, and of course, Olaf just finished it off. So an amazing, amazing three weeks.
“Actually we didn’t have much of a turnaround last night, already on the plane here to Rome. It’s been a quick turnaround. We kept the focus, we knew we had a chance with Olaf today, and he pulled it off.
“I mean … it’s for sure the defining moment of my career, there’s no doubt about that. I’ve had some good successes but I don’t think anything comes close. I will celebrate for sure, and we’ll see what’s to come.”
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Del Toro has a chat. Has this race and this experience changed him as a person?
“Maybe not that much. More optimistic, maybe. I will be the same guy. I will eat the same, I’ll be the same guy with my teammates … it was incredible to be in this position. It’s incredible to prove to myself that I can do it.
“Thanks to the guys [teammates] that I’m in this position. It’s not nice to lose the jersey. But I need to be mature with this, and be hungry the next time, to do everything right. Sometimes the guy who makes less mistakes wins. For sure, I will come back stronger.
“I will remember that I proved myself that I can do big things, if I work enough to do it … I will try to enjoy it as well. It’s incredible. I need to enjoy it and keep working as hard as I can.”
The Giro podium: Yates, Del Toro, Carapaz.
It was Mauro Vegni, the race director, who handed the trophy to Yates.
Vegni is retiring after a decade as Giro director and 30 years with RCS.
Wout van Aert then comes along and expertly soaks Yates with champagne. Or Prosecco, or something like that.
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Here comes the race winner Simon Yates. He steps on to the top step of the podium and raises both hands to the crowd. He shakes hands with third-placed Carapaz, who appears to greet him warmly, and then with second-placed Del Toro, who looks a little less enthusiastic.
Unfortunately, the assembled crowd is now subjected to a rendition of the plodding British national anthem.
But never mind about that. What a race, what a ride yesterday, what a win for Simon Yates.
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Del Toro and Carapaz are now on the podium together, and things appear a little frosty, with no handshake or mutual recognition as far as we could see.
“There is definitely some tension there,” asserts Matt Stephens on pundit duty.
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Simon Yates arrived in Rome, was blessed by Pope Leo XIV and then completed a miraculous overall victory in the 2025 Giro d’Italia, seven years after his race lead had traumatically dissolved with victory in his grasp.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) wins the points classification, Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG) is best young rider, Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana team) wins the maglia azzurra for the best climber.
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A GC win for Simon Yates by four seconds shy of four minutes. Who would have predicted that yesterday morning?
Poor old Egan Bernal and Ineos Grenadiers, 12min 42sec down, in seventh.
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Final GC standings: top 10
1) Simon Yates (Visma–Lease A Bike) 82hr 31min 01sec
2) Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +3min 56sec
3) Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easypost) +4min 43sec
4) Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +6min 23sec
5) Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) +7min 32sec
6) Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +9min 28 sec
7) Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) +12min 42sec
8) Einer Rubio (Movistar Team) +13min 05sec
9) Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +13min 36sec
10) Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) +14min 27sec
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Gianni Meersman, Alpecin-Deceuninck sports director, is standing outside the team bus eating pizza and having a drink.
What pizza is he eating? Margherita. And then:
“We had a very nice group,” he tells TNT Sports. “We are in Rome. We are very happy. It’s a wrap.”
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“It was a dream. It was great. A lot of emotion,” says the former pro rider Maxime Monfort, now Lidl-Trek sport director, of the team’s efforts at this Giro.
They’ve had some “Purple Rain” T-shirts made up to celebrate Pedersen’s maglia ciclamino. Which is nice.
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“We couldn’t wish for a better final weekend,” says today’s stage winner Kooij. “Yesterday was really amazing for the team. Today I had to give everything that was still left in the legs. Again, the team made it a lot easier, I just had to push it to the line.
“We had a plan. In sprints it’s never easy to do it perfectly. But today we really committed, with the whole team, to make it a sprint … we went all-in, we were perfectly positioned, and yeah, happy to make it to the line.
“I was really happy with this Giro, making it to Rome, winning, it’s really special.
“A special day for the whole team, and with everyone in mind [Gesink and family, he means] it’s a special day.”
“They were riding for something extra,” says Robbie McEwen, referring to the fact that Robert Gesink’s wife, Daisy, died yesterday. “That performance was worthy and fitting and the perfect way for them to finish off this Giro.”
“Kind of emotional,” Van Aert says of Yates. “He’s such a relaxed guy, but you could really see that is means so much to him. Especially the place he did it. It was a special moment.
“I wouldn’t say a nightmare,” Van Aert says of the team’s struggles early in the race, when he suffered from illness.
“When the ketchup bottle is almost empty … keep shaking, shaking, shaking … and then at some point everything comes out at once. That’s what happened.”
Didn’t Van Aert mean to say: “Shake oh shake the ketchup bottle, none’ll come, and then the lot’ll”?
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That was Visma–Lease A Bike’s third stage win of the Giro. What a way to celebrate Simon Yates’s GC victory.
“Life comes around, it gives and it takes. Yeah, that’s how it is.”
(Simon Yates, speaking this morning.)
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Top three on Stage 21:
1) Olav Kooij
2) Kaden Groves
3) Matteo Moschetti
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Simon Yates wins the Giro d'Italia! Olav Kooij wins Stage 21!
Wonderful stuff. Visma Lease A Bike seal the overall with a stage win for Olav Kooij. Tremendous lead-out by Edoardo Affini and Van Aert.
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0.5km to go: Up the final ascent to the finish …
1km to go: Tudor Pro Cycling Team are up there. Here we go! Who is your money on?
2km to go: Van Aert is up there. Sam Bennett is being moved into position by Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale.
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3km to go: Simon Yates is the Giro d’Italia champion! We are inside the final 3km, so any crashes or mechanicals now don’t matter.
3.5km to go: Alpecin-Deceuninck ride on the front, for Kaden Groves.
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4.5km go: Past the Colosseum for the final time …
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5km to go: Simon Yates is 5km from glory. Absolutely magnificent stuff.
5.9km to go: Cerny sits up. All over. Gruppo compatto, isn’t that how you say it?
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6km to go: “Cerny is all over the place on the bike … the peloton feel they can close him down.” Cerny has indeed lost his form, he’s grinding it out, trying to generate as much power as possible. He still has 7sec but it’s looking a lost cause.
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7km to go: “Now it’s about positioning … elbows out … claim your position and defend it,” says McEwen.
8km to go: Cerny attacks on his own! Wow. Very, very strong. He has 6sec. Paleni is done, beaten, defeated, knackered.
9km to go: “Yesterday’s ride by Yates is a definitive example of what makes sport, as a whole, great,” emails Tyler Whitford. “This is the stuff Hollywood dreams of. But real people in the real world with grit, belief and talent can make what reads like fiction happen right before our eyes.
“What a privilege to watch!.”
There’s the bell! One lap to go …
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10km to go: Still 9sec for the Paleni and Cerny! Nearly into the final lap now …
11km to go: “You’re hoping and praying as a GC rider, you just want it over,” remarks Rob Hatch.
“You say, please God, let me get through to the end of this one without any problems,” says Kelly. “I have experienced it. In the final laps here, it is very, very tense on the race leader and the guys at the top of the general classification.”
12km to go: Verre goes alone out in front! Cerny chases! The bunch is in sight.
Verre has 8sec and stands up to stamp on the pedals, trying desperately to stay away.
13km to go: Every year I watch the Giro, every year I tell myself to go. Ditto Roland Garros. Maybe next year.
13km to go: Race leader Simon Yates is riding in the bunch.
14km to go: Down to 7sec.
15km to go: The on-screen graphics tell us the breakaway riders have 12sec. Verre, Paleni, Cerny are the last three men standing. Fair play (Chateau?) to them, phenomenal effort to keep the peloton at bay for this long.
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Keep the emails coming, tell me your views on this Giro:
Email me!
19km to go: The gap is down to 9sec. Two laps to go: the break is on the uphill drag to the finish. Hepburn dropped.
21km to go: Five riders ahead of the bunch but their lead is just 15sec. Order restored for the sprinters’ teams, it would seem.
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22km to go: It was the intermediate sprint that broke up the escape group. But now there is a group working together again. Pietrobon is dropped and back in the bunch.
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24km to go: And after all that … looks like the break has splintered. Someone’s clipped off the front, four riders are visible together on the road a bit further back.
It is Josef Cerny (Soudal Quick-Step) who is up front.
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26km to go: Kruijswijk is done. Wilco Kelderman is among those to take it up at the front. But the break still has 30sec! This is going to be exciting … Hey, it already is exciting.
“This break is doing a fantastic job,” remarks McEwen on commentary. “Once they get away, the sprinters teams get organised quickly [normally, on final stages] … this group have not had much of a gap, but as the chase has intensified, they have been able to lift, and lift, and lift.”
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28km to go: Oh, Romain Bardet is retiring, too! What a legend. This is his last grand tour, and his final race will be the Dauphiné.
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28km to go: The break, again: Hepburn (Jayco AlUla), Verre (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), Cerny (Soudal Quick-Step), Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta) and Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF) are the six up there with +16sec.
They have 29sec. There is a significant climb towards the finish, and the break are speeding up it now.
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30km to go: Hmm, the gap is out to 30sec. Are we in fact going to see the sprinters’ teams foiled? Kelly mentions that “panic button” again.
“Maybe riders have got nothing left,” remarks Rob Hatch. “What is there left in the tank? Easy for us to sit here and do “PlayStation cycling”, ride or don’t ride.”
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33km to go: A reminder that this is Jakob Fuglsang’s final race. He’s been a pro for 17 years, and has 27 wins on the palmarès. He’s won the Dauphiné twice, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia. Which is laudable to say the least.
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35km to go: “It’s holding up really well here,” Kelly says on commentary of the break’s advantage, which is 24sec. “Again I think it’ll be a panic situation, the panic button will be pushed by the sprinters’ teams, and they’ll put more riders on the front.”
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36km to go: Kruijswijk is putting in a massive ride on the front of the peloton for Visma-Lease A Bike. What a pro. Perhaps he’ll be permitted to sit up before the big finish?
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39km to go: The six up front ride on. Let’s face it, with 19sec at the moment, they have almost zero chance of staying away. That said, cycling fans across the world will be falling over themselves to book a stay in a B&B Hotel.
40km to go: The Altare della Patria! (Note: photograph not taken today.)
When it came to building this beautiful city, they didn’t hold back on the whole “ancient Rome” theme.
“I’ve really enjoyed it, and not just because I’m storming out Velogames mini league (and, in fact last night I was 94th overall),” emails Richard Cutler of this year’s race. “My success is more down to luck than judgement - pretty much proof that even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, but, heck, I’ll take it.
“The actual racing has been pretty good too, if course, and I never thought Yatesy was going to do that yesterday. ‘Château’ to him.
“Also, the TNT coverage and highlights show on Quest have been excellent. They started a bit shonky, but pulled it together and seems to have taken a lesson from ITV and made it more user-friendly (for us idiots, anyway).”
46km to go: Adam Blythe signs off from his reporting duties from the TNT Sports motorbike. The race organisers won’t let the media bikes stay out for the last few laps, which feels like the right call given the ferocity of the racing.
“I’m going to sit in a sun trap, and top up the Yorkshire tan,” Blythe says.
49km to go: Mads Pedersen, as stated, has dominated the points classification. He’s won four stages in total, including Stage 1 and Stage 3.
Updated
49km to go: The six-man break is toiling to keep this advantage.
Hepburn (Jayco AlUla), Verre (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), Cerny (Soudal Quick-Step), Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta) and Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF) are the six up there with +16sec.
Updated
51km to go: “I do feel that Del Toro let Yates go and do his thing deliberately, perhaps out of a bit of respect for his previous experience on the stage,” emails Andrew Benton. “Del Toro will be back, no worries, he’s young.”
I agree with the second part. (Not that I actually watched the stage, you understand.)
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51km to go: “We talk about the final stage being a promenade,” says Sean Kelly on commentary. “It ain’t no promenade when you get into the final laps.”
51km to go: “I watched yesterday’s stage on a hooky YouTube feed in Spanish,” emails Ian McLaughlin. “And I really enjoyed it despite not being able to understand the commentary. Lovely open and unpredictable racing with team tactics playing a major role in the finale.”
There’s the Trevi Fountain!
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55km to go: The sprinters’ teams are keeping this breakaway under manners. The pace is a proper race pace now. One final blast before a well-earned rest for these riders. And of course, Simon Yates will be in the bunch, accompanied by his teammates, just focusing on staying upright.
Kruijswijk is doing plenty of work on the front of the bunch.
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56km to go: “One of the best for a long time,” emails Gerard Miller regarding the quality of this Giro. “Always more interesting than the Tour de France.”
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58km to go: A group of three has been dropped by the peloton. Damiano Caruso was among them but it sounds like they’ve got back on the bunch now.
61km to go: “Michael Hepburn is a lifelong member of Jayco-AlUla,” says commentator Matt Stephens of one of our escapees, who have a 21sec advantage over the peloton. Impressive that the team arranged his contract before he was born, in fairness.
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Marc Reef, of Visma Lease A Bike, has a chat after helping to mastermind Simon Yates’s comeback yesterday: “It’s a victory for the whole team … we needed things to go a certain way, with Wout in the break.
“It was also the situation [earlier in the Giro] when Simon was second, maybe Del Toro was focused on him … when Carapaz was moving, when he was third, Del Toro didn’t react. So we were hoping for a situation like this.
“Carapaz thought – it’s up to yo, Del Toro [after Yates attacked].
“Simon was confident on the bigger climbs, he could do his thing. He had the legs, and he was extra motivated because of 2018. He spoke about this stage in the winter time. Only the really “big” guys can do something like this.”
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70km: Live-data wise, the official Giro site is far from ideal. Nothing on who is in the break.
However. As if by magic my telly screen, now: Hepburn (Jayco Alula), Verre (Arkea-B+B Hotels), Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), Cerny (Soudal Quick-Step), Pietrobon (Polti VisitMalta) and Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF) are the six up there with +15sec.
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75km to go: And there they go! Racing has officially begun, it seems with the riders keen to attack given the OK to go for it by Steven Kruijswijk.
A few minutes ago, Kruijswijk was having a go at a Groupama-FDJ rider for apparently trying to launch an attack.
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78km to go: Robbie McEwen was talking earlier about previous Tour de France final stages where certain teams have picked up the pace because they had a flight to catch. He mentioned Movistar / Caisse d’Epargne as previously being guilty of this.
Although of course, for those who find these processional stages dull, they would applaud any attempt to speed things up.
Personally I enjoy the largely-ceremonial final stage. The riders, and certainly the GC winner, have more than earned the right to a relatively easy day in my view. (Anyone who argues for full-on racing on stage 21, no matter what the grand tour, has obviously never tried riding one.)
79km to go: Plenty of fans line the city streets in Rome, applauding as the riders roll past. Not Tour de France vibes but busy enough.
81km to go: A cool shot from a drone, flying over the peloton, as it approaches the Colosseum, coming up on their left-hand side. Then the riders roll through the 5km to go banner.
83km to go: The peloton now hits the final circuit. There will be eight laps of the 9.5km course in Rome.
84km to go: Steven Kruijswijk rides on the front for Visma-Lease A Bike. Still the pace is relatively serene.
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Points classification standings
CORRECTION: Tonelli won the intermediate at Fontana dello Zodiaco. The top five was as follows:
1) Alessandro Tonelli (Polti VisitMalta) 12pts
2) Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) 8pts
3) Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) 5pts
4) Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 3pts
5) Steven Kruijswijk (Visma | Lease a Bike) 1pts
New overall Maglia Ciclamino top five:
1. Mads Pedersen 277pts
2. Olav Kooij 135pts
3. Wout van Aert 127pts
4. Dries de Bondt 119pts
5. Isaac del Toro 109pts
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95km to go: Isaac del Toro – “The Bull” – brings to mind the former Munster and Ireland prop John Hayes. Admittedly, as athletes, the similarities end with the name.
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101km to go: “Have King Kelly and co eased their criticism of Isaac del Toro today?,” emails Gary Naylor. “They were very harsh yesterday on a 21-year-old kid riding in pink for days on his first tour, alone on the road against Yates, WvA and Carapaz, getting bad instructions in his ear.
“I’ll be very happy when he wins a grand tour and smiles down the camera at them.”
Kelly hasn’t been on the mic yet today, I don’t think. But the focus has been on Yates’s performance rather than any criticism of Del Toro. As below, Del Toro is putting a brave face on it – or as you say, perhaps he’s just genuinely delighted to be finishing second, rather than wracked with angst over losing the leader’s jersey on the penultimate stage.
103km to go: On the TNT Sports Giro motorbike, Adam Blythe has just eaten an ice cream, now he’s eating some crisps, and he’s got a freshly made sandwich to come. He says the sandwich is dated today. “In England that would be a meal deal with four-week old tuna,” he remarks. Which is a fair point.
I seem to remember seeing Blythe eating a burger while riding around the velodrome at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, although when I “reminded” him of this on social media several years ago, he claimed to have no memory of the incident.
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105km to go: By the way, the peloton has now turned back towards Rome, having enjoyed a quick promenade by the sea at Ostia.
108km to go: Dries de Bondt (Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale) attacks, looking to mop up the intermediate sprint points. Alessandro Tonelli (Team Polti VisitMalta) goes with him. The winner will get 12 points … and I think De Bondt took it. Will confirm.
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110km to go: Isaac del Toro was asked a loaded question before today’s stage start. How did he sleep last night?
“Really good man. The last two, three days I slept really well.”
Any regrets? Del Toro says something about not knowing what will happen in the future, so he seems to be saying no, no regrets, and then:
“Yes, I can imagine different scenarios, when I can do it better … But honestly, I can say it, but I prefer don’t say it, and maybe next race I will show it.
“It was a good day [Stage 20] , not the best day, but it can be worse, I am super proud of my performance these two weeks. I showed to everyone I can do it. And more important I showed myself I can do it … It was incredible to show the performance I can do.
“If I had told you I would finish second at the Giro, you would have laughed. It’s incredible now.”
England are 16-2 chasing 309 against the West Indies in the second ODI:
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri has won the Spanish grand prix. Will Unwin has the details:
Iga Swiatek, who was nearly bagelled by Elena Rybakina in their last-16 first set at Roland Garros earlier, has fought like a champion to come back and win in three sets: 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Check it out with Daniel Harris:
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123km to go: I seem to remember that Simon Yates – or was it Adam, or was it both of them – being famous for giving extremely stock interview answers to reporters during grand tours.
“We’ll just take it day by day,” is generally the mantra.
And why not? Keep it simple.
The peloton is on an extremely long, straight road heading for the coast, with dense woodland on their left-hand side.
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127km to go: Did Adam Yates speak to his brother Simon on the phone last night? “Just messaged him. Super Giro for him, super happy for him.”
What next for Adam Yates, asks Blythe. The Tour de France?
“Yeah, I’m going to the Tour. Try and recover now and work for the boss, [Tadej] Pogacar. I think he’s in Sierra [Nevada] now working hard. And … yeah.”
Is Simon Yates heading for the Tour too, in support of Jonas Vingegaard?
“Mate, if I was him, I’d be retiring now. He’s just won the Giro!”
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127km to go: The peloton is leaving the city. They are rolling down a long, straight tree-lined avenue (must have something to do with the Romans), and making a beeline for the coast. The sky is uniformly blue.
Blythe grabs a word quick word for TNT Sports with race leader Simon Yates from the motorbike. Blythe heard a rumour that Yates’s partner was flying to Italy during yesterday’s stage?
“Funnily enough she missed her flight,” a smiling Simon Yates explains. “She was too busy watching the race, so she completely missed it. But it worked out all right.”
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The official Giro blog actually says Yates is the “12th different winner in the last 11 editions” which is, er, not actually mathematically possible. But I think I catch their drift.
132km to go: Good stattage from the official live blog: Simon Yates is the 12th different Giro d’Italia winner in 12 editions of the race.
“Nairo Quintana (2014), Alberto Contador (2015), Vincenzo Nibali (2016), Tom Dumoulin (2017), Chris Froome (2018), Richard Carapaz (2019), Tao Geoghegan-Hart (2020), Egan Bernal (2021), Jai Hindley (2022), Primoc Roglic (2023), and Tadej Pogacar (2024).”
And now Yates, S.
134km to go: Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek, resplendent in his maglia ciclamino get-up, has clipped off the front, along with Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-PremierTech) and two other Danish riders. Looks like it’s just a bit of fun.
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137km to go: “The riders are not this relaxed on their recovery rides,” Adam Blythe says of the atmosphere in the peloton. “Not even close.”
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Mauro Vegni, the race director for the past 10 years, is retiring today. He’s been at RCS Sports for 30 years, Rob Hatch tells us on commentary.
I used to work in pro cycling and I once bumped into Vegni at Zurich airport. I said hello, he pretty clearly had no idea who I was, but was very civil. True story!
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Kilometre 0
Here we go, then. Simon Yates has 143km to ride to glory with his Visma–Lease A Bike colleagues.
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It’s 30C in Rome. It’ll be hotter on the road. The peloton has just rolled across the border, leaving Vatican City and back into the Italian capital. There are magnificent helicopter shots of the city as the riders pootle towards Kilometre 0 and the official race start. Simon Yates and his teammates will bust out the Prosecco at some point. Or perhaps a nice bottle of Franciacorta.
“Yates rode 59min 23sec for the climb,” emails John of yesterday’s decisive attack on the Colle delle Finestre. “That is a new record. Froome in 2018 rode 65 mins. Yates was pushing 6.2 watts per kilo and Froome just 5.4.
“I’m sure that both Carapaz and Del Toro were caught ought by the ferocious and continued attack by Yates. Yes, they were looking at each other, but they were also blown away by Bury Boy’s surge.”
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Peloton stops for audience with Pope Leo
Not something you see every day. The neutralised roll-out has begun in Vatican City, but now the riders have stopped to meet the Pope. Simon Yates and I think the other riders in the podium positions get to shake hands with the American.
“God bless all of you on this last part of the Giro,” Pope Leo says. “Congratulations to all of you. You are always welcome here in the Vatican, welcomed by the church, which represents God’s love for all people. Congratulations, tanti auguri a tutti.”
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The official technical information about today’s stage, on the Giro website, is as follows:
“The final stage is split into two parts. The first runs from Rome to the coast and Ostia, then returns to the start zone. Riders then enter the final circuit: Eight laps of a 9.5 km course entirely within central Rome, using wide city roads. The profile alternates short undulations with long straights and occasionally technical corners. The surface is mostly asphalt, with short cobbled sections (sanpietrini).
“Final kilometres: Only slight changes of direction. The final straight is 350m on eight-metre-wide asphalt. Midway through the last kilometre, the road pitches up at 5%.”
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Stage 21 is 143km long. It includes eight laps of a 9.5km circuit in the city to finish. The peloton started out from Vatican City, they will head out to the coast, at Ostia, then loop back to the big smoke for the street circuit and final sprint. Two intermediate sprints, at Fontana Dello Zodiaco (35.2km) and “Roma” at 95.6km.
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Orla Chennaoui tells us it’s the first time since 25 May 2018 that Simon Yates has worn the maglia rosa.
Meanwhile, the riders are rolling out in the neutralised zone. I suppose I should tell you the details for today’s stage – coming right up.
“If anyone’s going to win other than us, it’s my brother,” Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) said last night after his sibling’s phoenix-from-the-flames ride.
“Happy for him. I’m sure I will congratulate him. Also celebrate a little bit. We did a good race, so we can’t be disappointed.”
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“It’s still sinking in,” says Simon Yates at today’s start line in Rome. “After yesterday’s stage we didn’t have much time, we had to rush to the airport to fly here, and we arrived late in the hotel. Yeah, still sinking in.
“The job’s not actually finished yet,” Yates says, laughing, when it is suggested that tonight will be a big party. “I need to cross the finish line here in Rome. I am trying to soak up the atmosphere as much as possible.
“My phone did explode a little bit [last night]. But I wanted to speak to my family. They are the ones who’ve been with me, through all the ups and downs.
“To pinpoint one [message last night] would be impossible. I don’t know, a lot of people can resonate with the story, losing the race a long time ago now, in 2018 … and the way I’ve managed to take it, I really think it’s touched a lot of people. It’s great.
“It [yesterday’s decisive attack] was all circumstantial. I just needed the right moment. I don’t know, to be honest, I always had the hope I could do something, but I never really believed it could happen.
“Life comes around, it gives and it takes. Yeah, that’s how it is.”
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Such sad news. Robert Gesink’s wife, Daisy, died yesterday. The riders are now having a minute’s silence on the start line in her memory.
Simon Yates before Stage 21.
I bet you he enjoyed his colazione.
“This is incredible,” Wout van Aert told reporters after Stage 20. “We didn’t really think about this, this morning. Such a brave effort of Simon, to go all-in from so far. I love it when people are not racing for a “blaze of honour”. So yeah. Chapeau for him.”
“I never truly believed until the very last moment there,” Yates told the reporter and former pro rider, Adam Blythe. “I’m speechless, really.
“It’s still sinking in … I couldn’t hold back the tears. It’s something I’ve worked towards … yeah. I’ve had a lot of setbacks, but I finally managed to pull it off.”
Yates eyes fill with tears of happiness.
“You should be proud of yourself mate,” Blythe tells him. “Everyone at home is proud of you.”
“Thanks mate,” Yates said. “Appreciate it.”
He meant that, too.
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“We love this sport,” Matt Stephens said on pundit duty for TNT. “We’ve had a go at this sport. We know what it takes … that performace was fuelled by the memories of a capitulation that he’s constantly reminded of.
“The race fell perfectly for him, but he had to ride the race of his life today. That ride will define his career. To see those tears was immensely powerful. His family will be so proud. His brother as well. What a day.”
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If you’d written that script they’d have said: “Yep, that’s good, we’ll use that.”
Rob Hatch on commentary, describing the incredible scenes as Yates rolls in for the final kilometre on yesterday’s Stage 20: “Five-and-a-half hours of the most epic bike riding you are ever likely to see … the tension built for three weeks before an explosion on the Colle delle Finestre … They called it “doing a Froome” … But now, this is the day we will all remember. Now they will call it “doing a Yates”.
“Not even the best Hollywood scriptwriters would have put this together. It is sensational. One of the most glorious chapters in the history of professional cycling.”
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Sean Kelly, commentating for TNT Sports with his customary common sense, describes what happened among the other GC contenders when Yates attacked on Stage 20:
“Isaac del Toro decided: ‘No, I’m not riding.’ Carapaz of course said: ‘Well, if you’re not riding mate, I’m not riding.’ And it’s just played into the hands of Simon Yates … there will be a lot of questions asked.”
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Live pictures from Rome will start at 2pm BST. Did you watch yesterday’s punch-up in the Cottian Alps? Email me with your thoughts.
I’m now catching up on yesterday’s highlights: Wout van Aert has just sat up, and Yates is five minutes ahead on the road. Exciting!
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In other #sports news, Will Unwin has the vroom-vroom Formula One from Barcelona here:
While James Wallace is blogging like a man possessed for England v West Indies in the second one-day international:
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Wowzers, Elena Rybakina is 5-0 up on Iga Swiatek in their first set at Roland Garros. Join Daniel Harris, as long as you promise to come back for some Giro action later:
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“Once the parcours was released I always had it in the back of my mind that maybe I could come here and close the chapter,” Yates told TNT Sports yesterday, referring to his painful experience on the Colle delle Finestre, at the hands of Chris Froome, in 2018. “Maybe not to take the pink jersey and the race but at least win the stage win or something.
“To try and show myself, the way I know I can do, and to pull it off – I really didn’t believe it. I have to thank the guys, the team. They believed in me and even during the stage they were saying ‘just give it a try’ and I did it in the end.
“I’m not really an emotional person but even coming over the finish line I couldn’t hold back the tears. It’s something I’ve worked towards throughout my career, year after year, and I’ve had a lot of setbacks. I’ve finally managed to pull it off.”
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Preamble
It doesn’t matter where Saturday’s Stage 20 ranks in the pantheon of historic grand tour drama. Comparison being the thief of joy and all that. All we need worry about is that Simon Yates, of Team Visma–Lease A Bike, is about to win the Giro d’Italia after his astonishing climbing performance yesterday. All Yates needs to worry about, meanwhile, is crossing the finish line in one piece, in his shiny new maglia rosa, with his Visma-Lease A Bike teammates in tow.
Yates has been on the road in this gruelling race for 79 hours, 18 minutes and 42 seconds. Personally I have watched a grand total of zero seconds of that time, so I’m coming to this distinctly freddo. Feel free to email me with a concise summary of what’s happened up to this point, so I can subsquently pretend to know what I’m talking about.
As for yesterday’s excitement, you can read Tom Bassam’s excellent report here:
Stage 21 start time: 2pm BST
