Latest news with #ChrisFroome
Independent Singapore
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Independent Singapore
Great Britain's Simon Yates wins his first Giro d'Italia title in Rome
ITALY: Britain's Simon Yates successfully won his first Giro d'Italia title, finishing with a career-defining performance in Rome. With his outstanding win, the athlete expressed: 'It's the defining moment of my career… I've had some good successes, but I don't think anything else comes close.' He added: 'It's really still sinking in. An amazing three weeks… I will celebrate for sure, and we'll see what else is to come.' The athlete then celebrated with his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates during a celebratory ride through the streets of Rome. This milestone adds the Giro title to his Vuelta a España win back in 2018. Furthermore, it also solidified his status as one of Britain's elite Grand Tour riders. Highlights of the race The 32-year-old athlete made a bold move during the penultimate stage as he delivered a powerful attack on the second-to-last climb. This allowed him to be the overall lead, coming in third place. Yates defended the leader's pink jersey for the very first time and confidently held on to it until the final stage, sealing the biggest win of his athletic career. Yates became the second British male cyclist to have won multiple Grand Tours, alongside Chris Froome, who clinched seven titles. Moreover, he is the third British rider to win the Giro d'Italia, following the historic moments of Froome's 2018 victory and Tao Geoghegan Hart's 2020 win. Yates finished three minutes and 56 seconds ahead of Isaac del Toro of Mexico, who placed second. Del Toro also took home the white jersey as the best young rider of the race. Richard Carapaz of Ecuador secured third place, 47 seconds behind Del Toro. Furthermore, Mads Pedersen of Denmark won the mauve jersey for the points classification, while Lorenzo Fortunato of Italy was awarded the blue jersey for best climber in the mountains classification. Here is the final general classification of the Giro d'Italia in Rome: Simon Yates (GB/Visma-Lease A Bike) = 79 hours 18 mins 42 secs Isaac del Toro (Mex/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) = +3 mins 56 secs Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) = +4 mins 43 secs Derek Gee (Can/Israel-Premier Tech) = +6 mins 23 secs Damiano Caruso (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) = +7 mins 32 secs Giulio Pellizzari (Ita/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) = +9 mins 28 secs Egan Bernal (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) = +12 mins 42 secs Einer Rubio (Col/Movistar) = +13 mins 5 secs Brandon McNulty (US/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) = +13 mins 36 secs Michael Storer (Aus/Tudor Pro Cycling) = +14 mins 27 secs In a social media post shared by Giro d'Italia, it stated: 'Simon Yates wins the Giro d'Italia 2025 🩷🏆.' Netizens expressed their support in the comments section and remarked: 'Back to where we belong 🔝in a pure Visma fashion. It's so amazing to see everyone smiling and with happy tears ❤️👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻,' 'Great riding we'll deserved 💪👍,' 'what a ride😍🔥,' and 'Pink suits you @simonyatess 😏🩷 You deserved this victory 🫶🏻.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Giro d'Italia winner Simon Yates hails ‘huge moment in my career'
Simon Yates reflected on a 'sweet success' he had been targeting for much of his life after a spectacular and decisive coup in Saturday's final mountain stage ensured he would ride to victory in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday. At 32, the Lancastrian had not been tipped to add to his sole Grand Tour victory, the 2018 Tour of Spain, but in the mammoth stage over the Colle Delle Finestre, he confounded those expectations to win the sport's second most prestigious race, after the Tour de France. Advertisement 'It's a huge moment in my career, a defining moment maybe,' Yates said after the Giro's closing stage in Rome. 'I don't think anything comes close. I'm just incredibly proud of the whole team over the three weeks. It's a sweet success. 'I've spent a lot of my life targeting this race. There's been a lot of setbacks, and it has been hard to deal with. I'm in disbelief that I have finally managed to pull it off.' Related: Britain's Simon Yates seals Giro d'Italia in Rome for second Grand Tour title Yates, who had been on the verge of winning the 2018 Giro when he endured a dramatic collapse in the pivotal mountain stage, is the third British rider, after Chris Froome and Tao Geoghegan Hart, to win the Italian race. Advertisement The Lancastrian arrived in Rome wearing all-pink kit with matching pink bike, in honour of the Giro's maglia rosa, and was shepherded safely through the final processional sprint stage to secure final victory. Ahead of him his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Olav Kooij took the final stage in a sprint, as a beaming Yates celebrated in his wake. 'We couldn't wish for a better final weekend,' Kooij said. 'Yesterday was really amazing for the team and today I had to give everything that was left in the legs.' Yates's Giro-winning attack on the crucial climb of the Finestre, the mountain that had dramatically proved his undoing in 2018, stunned onlookers and exploded the overall standings. On social media Geraint Thomas said: 'What is going on?!', as he watched Saturday's drama between the three key protagonists – Yates, Isaac Del Toro and Richard Carapaz – unfold. Advertisement Reminded that Yates had far more experience of Grand Tour racing than the 21‑year‑old Del Toro, Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour de France, was scathing. 'Do you need experience to realise that third place is pulling away and that, if you stop pedalling, he's going to take time out of you? My son Macs would know that, and he's five years old.' Even Yates seemed overwhelmed by the scale of his achievement on the mountain that had once proven his downfall. 'I always had in the back of my mind that maybe I could come here and close the chapter. Maybe not to take the jersey in the race, but at least the stage, to try to show myself the way I know I can do.' He admitted, though, that he 'really did not believe' such a dream scenario was possible. 'I am not really an emotional person, but coming to the finish I couldn't hold back the tears.' Del Toro, who had appeared like Yates in 2018 destined to win the race, hid his disappointment. 'Yates was the most intelligent,' the Mexican said. 'It was good for his team and how they played the tactics.' Advertisement But Carapaz, Giro champion in 2019, rounded on the Mexican. 'In the end, Del Toro lost the Giro,' the Ecuadorian said. 'He didn't know how to race and in the end the smartest [rider] won.' Juan Manuel Gárate, Carapaz's EF Education EasyPost sports director, sought to justify the lack of any serious pursuit of Yates. 'There came a moment where you had to decide: 'If Yates goes, let him go. If Del Toro doesn't follow, he loses the GC.' To win, you have to play the game. And with that comes the risk of losing.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Giro d'Italia winner Simon Yates hails ‘huge moment in my career'
Simon Yates reflected on a 'sweet success' he had been targeting for much of his life after a spectacular and decisive coup in Saturday's final mountain stage ensured he would ride to victory in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday. At 32, the Lancastrian had not been tipped to add to his sole Grand Tour victory, the 2018 Tour of Spain, but in the mammoth stage over the Colle Delle Finestre, he confounded those expectations to win the sport's second most prestigious race, after the Tour de France. 'It's a huge moment in my career, a defining moment maybe,' Yates said after the Giro's closing stage in Rome. 'I don't think anything comes close. I'm just incredibly proud of the whole team over the three weeks. It's a sweet success. 'I've spent a lot of my life targeting this race. There's been a lot of setbacks, and it has been hard to deal with. I'm in disbelief that I have finally managed to pull it off.' Yates, who had been on the verge of winning the 2018 Giro when he endured a dramatic collapse in the pivotal mountain stage, is the third British rider, after Chris Froome and Tao Geoghegan Hart, to win the Italian race. The Lancastrian arrived in Rome wearing all-pink kit with matching pink bike, in honour of the Giro's maglia rosa, and was shepherded safely through the final processional sprint stage to secure final victory. Ahead of him his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Olav Kooij took the final stage in a sprint, as a beaming Yates celebrated in his wake. 'We couldn't wish for a better final weekend,' Kooij said. 'Yesterday was really amazing for the team and today I had to give everything that was left in the legs.' Yates's Giro-winning attack on the crucial climb of the Finestre, the mountain that had dramatically proved his undoing in 2018, stunned onlookers and exploded the overall standings. On social media Geraint Thomas said: 'What is going on?!', as he watched Saturday's drama between the three key protagonists – Yates, Isaac Del Toro and Richard Carapaz – unfold. Reminded that Yates had far more experience of Grand Tour racing than the 21‑year‑old Del Toro, Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour de France, was scathing. 'Do you need experience to realise that third place is pulling away and that, if you stop pedalling, he's going to take time out of you? My son Macs would know that, and he's five years old.' Even Yates seemed overwhelmed by the scale of his achievement on the mountain that had once proven his downfall. 'I always had in the back of my mind that maybe I could come here and close the chapter. Maybe not to take the jersey in the race, but at least the stage, to try to show myself the way I know I can do.' He admitted, though, that he 'really did not believe' such a dream scenario was possible. 'I am not really an emotional person, but coming to the finish I couldn't hold back the tears.' Del Toro, who had appeared like Yates in 2018 destined to win the race, hid his disappointment. 'Yates was the most intelligent,' the Mexican said. 'It was good for his team and how they played the tactics.' But Carapaz, Giro champion in 2019, rounded on the Mexican. 'In the end, Del Toro lost the Giro,' the Ecuadorian said. 'He didn't know how to race and in the end the smartest [rider] won.' Juan Manuel Gárate, Carapaz's EF Education EasyPost sports director, sought to justify the lack of any serious pursuit of Yates. 'There came a moment where you had to decide: 'If Yates goes, let him go. If Del Toro doesn't follow, he loses the GC.' To win, you have to play the game. And with that comes the risk of losing.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Simon Yates' unfinished story gets its happy ending with a Giro d'Italia triumph seven years in the waiting
For every super-talent like Tadej Pogacar, every young star like Isaac del Toro, are several figures like Simon Yates. In a sport that is all too quick to leap on the newest, brightest and youngest talent, Yates' Giro d'Italia title was a victory of hard graft, of fighting through adversity, a very human rider exorcising his demons and earning the sweetest of rewards. The 32-year-old has gone through heartbreak at this race. The maglia rosa was his to lose in 2018, and lose it he did as illness – and Chris Froome – struck at the worst possible time. But this year Yates came in high on confidence. Seven years on from the day his Giro tilt utterly collapsed, on the punishing slopes of the Finestre, he picked his moment. He rode a tactically astute race, moving slowly up the overall standings over the first week, staying under the radar, never putting himself too far into the red. All race he bided his time, staying in touch with his rivals and matching their moves. Now he let them blow each other up as he rode away with the race victory. To some degree part of Yates' second grand tour win – which puts him second in the rankings for British men, only behind Froome's monumental seven – was down to Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz 's kamikaze mission in the crucial moments of stage 20. Everyone knew the race came down to that day; the margins were small enough that del Toro's lead could very easily go up in smoke. But as the pair failed to work together to chase down Yates' decisive attack, it became clear that they were riding for podium spots and nothing more. But those tactical decisions take nothing away from Yates' brilliant ride. The Bury rider has always had the talent, but not always the opportunity or the form. He moved from Jayco-AlUla, the team he spent 10 years with, for more chances at grand tour leadership. He switched to the behemoth that is Visma-Lease a Bike, taking a secondary role behind the squad's Tour de France specialist Jonas Vingegaard. That gave him a shot at the Giro, albeit in a team that was also sending a dedicated lead-out for sprinter Olav Kooij. He didn't have the pure mountain might of UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Juan Ayuso could count on the ever-reliable climbing domestique Rafal Majka, Yates' own brother Adam, and exciting young talents in Igor Arrieta and Del Toro – the latter included as a support rider for Ayuso before his own career-making ride to second place overall. Yates' biggest support in the toughest days of this Giro was Wout van Aert, a rider of almost superhuman quality who turned himself inside out in the hope of overturning the Briton's deficit. His pull for Yates in the valley to Sestriere extended his gap over his pursuers from two to four minutes. He was instrumental in him winning the race – and overturning the might of the world's biggest team. The fact that Visma-Lease a Bike rolled off the startline for the final stage clad in special kits accented with pink, presumably organised some time in advance, indicated that there had been faith within the team for some time that Yates could pull off a miraculous comeback. But outside the Visma bus the chances looked slim. Yates himself downplayed them at the end of stage 19, a virtual stalemate between the big GC favourites as the day's difficult and repetitive climbing neutralised any chance of real attacks among them. Of the three riders on the virtual podium, he had looked the weakest in the mountains of the final week. The time gaps slowly extended: he lost 25 seconds to Del Toro and 15 to Carapaz on stage 17 to Bormio, a further 30 to Del Toro and 28 to the Ecuadorian at the end of stage 19, in which he appeared to blame Visma's team tactics for his inability to follow at the finish. Stage 20 was a case of all or nothing. The memories of the Finestre in 2018, the day his overall lead – and any chance of winning the race – utterly collapsed, loomed large. They were etched on his face as he crossed the line at Sestriere. It was a tearful homecoming. The 32-year-old had not ridden up the Finestre since losing 38 minutes there, ruining his hopes of a maiden grand tour victory. This time he was the conqueror, not the conquered. He rode through Rome on Sunday arm in arm with twin brother Adam - temporary emnity from their opposing teams forgotten - and crossed the finish line a few seconds down on teammate Kooij, rounding off Visma's brilliant Giro with a second stage win for their sprinter. He headed straight into the arms of his partner as the engravers readied themselves to write his name on the trophy, and the annals of history. This was a race of redemption, a glorious comeback for a rider who may well have thought that day in 2018 that he'd never again come so close to victory at a grand tour. He won the Vuelta only a few months later, but the intervening years have been low on opportunities for revenge at the Giro. A third place finish in 2021 was the closest he has come to pulling on the maglia rosa since; he pulled out with Covid-19 in the delayed 2020 edition, and abandoned the race with a knee injury in 2022. It has been a lean seven years in Italy since that emotionally fraught stage 19 on the Finestre. But the story now, at long last, has a happy ending.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Simon Yates finishes safely in peloton to seal victory at Giro d'Italia
Britain's Simon Yates sealed victory in the Giro d'Italia following the final stage from the Vatican City to Rome. Yates took a lead of almost four minutes into stage 21 and finished safely in the peloton as Visma-Lease a Bike team-mate Olav Kooij came out on top in a sprint finish. Advertisement Yates effectively sealed victory on Saturday's penultimate stage when he exorcised his personal demons on the Colle delle Finestre with a stunning solo attack to claim the race leader's pink jersey. On the mountain where his dreams of victory were shattered by Chris Froome's famous solo breakaway in 2018, Yates turned the tables with a masterclass of his own as his rivals were left to question their own tactics. The 32-year-old Lancastrian rode away from leader Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz on the brutal gradients and the gravel to turn an 81-second deficit and third place into a three minute, 56-second lead over Del Toro. Advertisement With the final stage a largely-ceremonial affair, which started with the leading riders meeting Pope Leo XIV, only a serious crash would have denied Yates a second Grand Tour victory following his success in the 2018 Vuelta a Espana. He is the third British rider to win the Giro after Froome in 2018 and Tao Geohegan Hart in 2020.
