Redemption for Yates on epic mountain climb as he closes in on Giro d'Italia title
Yates started the penultimate stage in third, one minute, 21 seconds behind previous leader Isaac Del Toro, but the British cyclist launched a solo attack on the beyond-category climb to Colle delle Finestre — the same mountain that spelled heartbreak for him seven years ago — to ride clear of his overall rivals.
Advertisement
Yates was openly sobbing after he crossed the line more than five minutes ahead of Del Toro.
'When the route was released I always had in the back of my mind to try and do something here and close the chapter, let's say,' an emotional Yates said, as he was trying to hold back tears.
'I maybe look relaxed but I also had doubts this morning, if I could really do something, but the guys they encouraged me and believed in me, so yeah, thanks to them.'
With just the mostly ceremonial finish in Rome left on Sunday, Yates moved into the lead of the three-week race and is all but certain to lift the Trofeo Senza Fine (Trophy With No End) for the first time.
Advertisement
Yates, who won the 2018 Spanish Vuelta, is 3 minutes, 56 seconds ahead of Mexico's Del Toro and 4:43 ahead of Ecuador's Richard Carapaz. Ottawa's Derek Gee is fourth, 6:23 behind Yates.
'I was close, and this is a thing, but at the end I didn't win," said Del Toro, who was nevertheless smiling as he saluted at the finish. "I will just keep working and I will come back for sure.
"You need to be a great winner, you need to be a great loser, and I think I am a good loser, and chapeau for them. Congrats.'
Redemption for Yates
Yates' attack had echoes of Chris Froome's audacious move on the Finestre in 2018 that earned him the trophy.
Advertisement
It was also redemption for Yates, who had been leading the Giro at that point in 2018 having worn the pink jersey for 13 days, before cracking on that climb. It is the first time he has donned the maglia rosa since then.
This time around, Yates made his move on the early slopes of the Finestre and had about 45 seconds on Del Toro and Carapaz when he hit the white gravel roads. The duo didn't collaborate behind him.
'We could have been the strongest but we were not the cleverest,' said Carapaz, the 2019 champion. 'In the end he (Del Toro) lost the Giro, he didn't know how to race well and the most clever rider won.'
Yates crested the climb with a lead of 1:41 on the pair and caught up to Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Wout van Aert, who helped him pull farther away on the descent.
Advertisement
Australian cyclist Chris Harper claimed his first individual victory in a Grand Tour on Saturday's 20th stage, a 205-kilometer (127-mile) leg from Verres to Sestriere. Yates was third, behind Alessandro Verre.
'It's the peak of my career, I don't think anything will top this,' Yates said. 'I'm not getting any younger as well and to win these, especially the Giro, something that I've really targeted for many, many years … I think it's the best it will be.'
It brought an end to a spell of bad luck at the Giro for Yates, who also had to withdraw from the Italian Grand Tour in 2020 and 2022 — because of coronavirus and a knee injury.
'I really have invested a lot of my career, my life, targeting this race,' he said. 'And yeah, a lot of setbacks. It's been hard to deal with.'
Advertisement
Del Toro:'No regrets'
Del Toro is at the other end of his career and the 21-year-old Mexican rider — who has sparked cycling fever in his home country — has a glittering future after bursting onto the scene at the Giro, far surpassing expectations of him when the race started in Albania.
'I cannot be more happy, because in the beginning, before in Albania, for sure a lot of people cannot believe that I can be here,' Del Toro said. "The team always is having confidence in me in this type of things. The problem is me, trying to believe it.
'I lose and I feel super disappointment but I don't want to cry in camera ... is like this, cycling. I have no regrets and for sure I will come back really, really strong from this."
___
AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
The Associated Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China rushes to build out solar, and emissions edge downward
TALATAN, China (AP) — High on the Tibetan plateau, Chinese government officials last month showed off what they say will be the world's largest solar farm when completed — 610 square kilometers (235 square miles), the size of the American city of Chicago. China has been installing solar panels at a blistering pace, far faster than anywhere else in the world, and the investment is starting to pay off. A study released Thursday found that the country's carbon emissions edged down 1% in the first six months of the year compared to a year earlier, extending a trend that began in March 2024. The good news is China's carbon emissions may have peaked well ahead of a government target of doing so before 2030. But China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, will need to bring them down much more sharply to play its part in slowing global climate change. For China to reach its declared goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, emissions would need to fall 3% on average over the next 35 years, said Lauri Myllyvirta, the Finland-based author of the study and lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. 'China needs to get to that 3% territory as soon as possible,' he said. China's emissions have fallen even as it uses more electricity China's emissions have fallen before during economic slowdowns. What's different this time is electricity demand is growing — up 3.7% in the first half of this year — but the increase in power from solar, wind and nuclear has easily outpaced that, according to Myllyvirta, who analyzes the most recent data in a study published on the U.K.-based Carbon Brief website. 'We're talking really for the first time about a structural declining trend in China's emissions,' he said. China installed 212 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first six months of the year, more than America's entire capacity of 178 gigawatts as of the end of 2024, the study said. Electricity from solar has overtaken hydropower in China and is poised to surpass wind this year to become the country's largest source of clean energy. Some 51 gigawatts of wind power was added from January to June. Li Shuo, the director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, described the plateauing of China's carbon emissions as a turning point in the effort to combat climate change. 'This is a moment of global significance, offering a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak climate landscape,' he wrote in an email response. It also shows that a country can cut emissions while still growing economically, he said. But Li cautioned that China's heavy reliance on coal remains a serious threat to progress on climate and said the economy needs to shift to less resource-intensive sectors. 'There's still a long road ahead,' he said. One solar farm can power 5 million households A seemingly endless expanse of solar panels stretches toward the horizon on the Tibetan plateau. White two-story buildings rise above them at regular intervals. Sheep graze on the scrubby vegetation that grows under them. Solar panels have been installed on about two-thirds of the land. When completed, it will have more than 7 million panels and be capable of generating enough power for 5 million households. Like many of China's solar and wind farms, it was built in the relatively sparsely populated west. A major challenge is getting electricity to the population centers and factories in China's east. 'The distribution of green energy resources is perfectly misaligned with the current industrial distribution of our country,' Zhang Jinming, the vice governor of Qinghai province, told journalists on a government-organized tour. Part of the solution is building transmission lines traversing the country. One connects Qinghai to Henan province. Two more are planned, including one to Guangdong province in the southeast, almost at the opposite corner of the country. Making full use of the power is hindered by the relatively inflexible way that China's electricity grid is managed, tailored to the steady output of coal plants rather than more variable and less predictable wind and solar, Myllyvirta said. 'This is an issue that the policymakers have recognized and are trying to manage, but it does require big changes to the way coal-fired power plants operate and big changes to the way the transmission network operates,' he said. 'So it's no small task.' ___ Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press video producer Wayne Zhang contributed. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at Ken Moritsugu And Ng Han Guan, The Associated Press
Associated Press
16 minutes ago
- Associated Press
China rushes to build out solar, and emissions edge downward
TALATAN, China (AP) — High on the Tibetan plateau, Chinese government officials last month showed off what they say will be the world's largest solar farm when completed — 610 square kilometers (235 square miles), the size of the American city of Chicago. China has been installing solar panels at a blistering pace, far faster than anywhere else in the world, and the investment is starting to pay off. A study released Thursday found that the country's carbon emissions edged down 1% in the first six months of the year compared to a year earlier, extending a trend that began in March 2024. The good news is China's carbon emissions may have peaked well ahead of a government target of doing so before 2030. But China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, will need to bring them down much more sharply to play its part in slowing global climate change. For China to reach its declared goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, emissions would need to fall 3% on average over the next 35 years, said Lauri Myllyvirta, the Finland-based author of the study and lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. 'China needs to get to that 3% territory as soon as possible,' he said. China's emissions have fallen even as it uses more electricity China's emissions have fallen before during economic slowdowns. What's different this time is electricity demand is growing — up 3.7% in the first half of this year — but the increase in power from solar, wind and nuclear has easily outpaced that, according to Myllyvirta, who analyzes the most recent data in a study published on the U.K.-based Carbon Brief website. 'We're talking really for the first time about a structural declining trend in China's emissions,' he said. China installed 212 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first six months of the year, more than America's entire capacity of 178 gigawatts as of the end of 2024, the study said. Electricity from solar has overtaken hydropower in China and is poised to surpass wind this year to become the country's largest source of clean energy. Some 51 gigawatts of wind power was added from January to June. Li Shuo, the director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, described the plateauing of China's carbon emissions as a turning point in the effort to combat climate change. 'This is a moment of global significance, offering a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak climate landscape,' he wrote in an email response. It also shows that a country can cut emissions while still growing economically, he said. But Li cautioned that China's heavy reliance on coal remains a serious threat to progress on climate and said the economy needs to shift to less resource-intensive sectors. 'There's still a long road ahead,' he said. One solar farm can power 5 million households A seemingly endless expanse of solar panels stretches toward the horizon on the Tibetan plateau. White two-story buildings rise above them at regular intervals. Sheep graze on the scrubby vegetation that grows under them. Solar panels have been installed on about two-thirds of the land. When completed, it will have more than 7 million panels and be capable of generating enough power for 5 million households. Like many of China's solar and wind farms, it was built in the relatively sparsely populated west. A major challenge is getting electricity to the population centers and factories in China's east. 'The distribution of green energy resources is perfectly misaligned with the current industrial distribution of our country,' Zhang Jinming, the vice governor of Qinghai province, told journalists on a government-organized tour. Part of the solution is building transmission lines traversing the country. One connects Qinghai to Henan province. Two more are planned, including one to Guangdong province in the southeast, almost at the opposite corner of the country. Making full use of the power is hindered by the relatively inflexible way that China's electricity grid is managed, tailored to the steady output of coal plants rather than more variable and less predictable wind and solar, Myllyvirta said. 'This is an issue that the policymakers have recognized and are trying to manage, but it does require big changes to the way coal-fired power plants operate and big changes to the way the transmission network operates,' he said. 'So it's no small task.' ___ Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press video producer Wayne Zhang contributed. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
New York Post
44 minutes ago
- New York Post
Fairfield headed to US title game with gutsy Little League World Series win over Las Vegas
Connecticut's Fairfield National is one step closer to a Little League World Series title. The team advanced to the U.S. title game with a 7-3 win over the Summerlin South Little League team from Las Vegas on Wednesday, riding strong defense, clutch hitting and a gutsy pitching performance. Fairfield fell behind early when Vegas second baseman Cache Malan slugged a three-run home run in the first inning off Fairfield pitcher SJ Taxiltaridis. 5 Fairfield, Conn.'s Jimmy Taxiltaridis tags out Las Vegas, Nev.'s Cutter Ricafort at home plate during the third inning. AP But Fairfield stormed back two innings later, tying the game in the third inning when Taxiltaridis hit a two-run single to left field after shortstop Luca Pellegrini brought home the first run with an RBI single. From there, they held Vegas at bay with a series of big defensive plays starting in the bottom of the third. In that inning, center fielder Dante Madera fully extended his left arm on the run toward the wall to record a flyout, and later, right fielder Ben Herbst nailed a runner at home to end the inning. Taxiltaridis escaped another scare an inning later. Vegas started the bottom of the fourth with two singles and loaded the bases with two outs, but the Fairfield pitcher threw a fastball past Mason Schutte for a swinging strikeout to end the threat. 5 Fairfield, Conn.'s Tommy D'Amura celebrates his home run with position coach P.J. Kippenhan during the sixth inning. AP With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Pellegrini hit a bloop single to center field to bring in a run, putting Fairfield up 4-3. In the bottom of the fifth, Fairfield flashed some more leather, turning a slick 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. They extended the lead in the sixth inning with a Tommy D'Amura solo shot to left-center field to lead off the frame, and a two-out RBI triple off the bat of Boden Dunlap, who later scored on a passed ball, to make the score 7-3. 5 Fairfield, Conn.'s Ben Herbst runs toward home during the sixth inning. AP The Fairfield lineup got major production from the first four spots in the order — Pelligrini, Taxiltaridis, D'Amura and Jimmy Taxiltaridis — who each had two hits and combined for five RBIs. And they didn't look back from there. SJ Taxiltaridis exited the game with one out in the sixth inning, nearly tossing a complete game despite pitching through multiple jams, finishing with four strikeouts and two walks while allowing seven hits and three earned runs on the day. 5 Fairfield, Conn.'s Tommy D'Amura is surrounded by his teammates at home plate as they celebrate his home run against Las Vegas. AP D'Amura relieved SJ Taxiltaridis, getting the final two outs of the ballgame. Fairfield advances to Saturday afternoon's U.S. title game. They are just the third team from Connecticut to play in the U.S. LLWS final, joining Westport in 2013 and Trumbull in 1989. 5 Fairfield, Conn.'s SJ Taxiltaridis celebrates a fourth-inning ending strikeout with the bases loaded AP Vegas plays in Thursday's losers bracket game. The winner of that game will be the second team to play Fairfield in the U.S. title game. If Fairfield wins that game, they'll join Trumbull — a team headline by ex-NHLer and current Rangers GM Chris Drury — as just the second Connecticut team to play in the championship game. The U.S. will take on the winner of the international side in the LLWS championship game Sunday.
