'I needed that moment of hesitation' - Yates recounts race winning Giro d'Italia attack

Ahead of the 2025 Giro d’Italia, Simon Yates was already part of an exclusive club of five British riders to have won a Grand Tour, a remarkable accomplishment. Despite his Vuelta a España victory in 2018, though, the heartbreak he suffered at the Italian Grand Tour earlier that season would have left him with a burning hunger for redemption. 

This was illustrated by the fact that at the start of 2025, Yates had ridden the Giro more than any other Grand Tour since that 2018 edition, four times, with a 3rd place in 2021, the closest he came to pink, showing clear intent of trying to win the race

Therefore, you are unlikely to see many more perfectly sculpted examples of completing a full circle, as Yates stormed his way to Giro glory in May on the slopes of the very climb where his pink dream had shattered seven years previously, the Colle delle Finestre. 

In turning the tables, Yates joined Froome, the man who had snatched the pink jersey from him in 2018, as the only British riders to have won multiple Grand Tours. Speaking in front of a live audience at Rouleur Live on Saturday, Yates admitted that he is “still in disbelief” with the turnaround. 

The British rider sat 3rd in the general classification ahead of the penultimate stage, 1:21 behind race leader Isaac del Toro, whilst also trailing Richard Carapaz. Yates revealed that he had anticipated and hoped that the duo would be more concerned with one another than with himself, and that’s exactly what came to fruition, as he rode away to fulfil his redemption arc with the Colle delle Finestre and Giro d'Italia.

"I said to my sports director, 'I need these guys to look at each other. I need a gap'. I think that was my only chance. I'd tried to drop them earlier in the race, and if anything, they were stronger than me. I needed that moment of hesitation," said Yates on Del Toro and Carapaz.

Yates leaned on the fact that Carapaz had already won the race in 2019 and anticipated that the Ecuadorian would be willing to gamble to lose the race in order to win, in an attempt to crack the inexperienced Mexican prodigy, Del Toro. "I knew Carapaz had already won the Giro, and so a second or third place doesn't matter to him. So, it all fell into place for me."

"When I was initiating the attacks, there wasn't much chat from the car. But when I had the gap, I needed to know if they were together because if they were together, they would be riding slower. I was screaming down the radio," said Yates. 

Wout van Aert played a crucial supporting role from the original breakaway. The British rider bridged up to him on the road and was towed by Van Aert in the valley before the final ascent, and Yates credited the Belgian as a key factor in the success.

"Wout being there, I think it cracked the other two. It wasn't just his physical power, it was the mental aspect. Them hearing 'Simon's joined Wout'. Those two are already fighting, they were already not friends," said Yates.