Latest news with #Yates
Straits Times
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Simon Yates overcomes doubts to secure his first Giro d'Italia triumph
Simon Yates (above) is the first man to win the Giro without taking a single stage since Alberto Contador 10 years ago. PHOTO: REUTERS – Simon Yates won the Giro d'Italia on June 1 after cruising home in the pack to seal a career-defining victory in the final procession stage, won by his teammate Olav Kooij, around Rome. Briton Yates effectively secured his second Grand Tour triumph on May 31 when he took the leader's pink jersey from Isaac del Toro with an epic effort in the Italian Alps. Yates, a 32-year-old who rides for Visma-Lease a bike, is the first man to win the Giro without taking a single stage since Alberto Contador 10 years ago. Yates came out on top in a Giro missing 2024 winner Tadej Pogacar and Yates' teammate Jonas Vingegaard and blown wide open by the retirements of pre-race favourites Primoz Roglic and Juan Ayuso. He is the Giro's 12th different winner in as many editions. The win also validates Yates' pre-season decision to move to cycling giants Visma after 10 years with the same Australian team, now called Jayco-AlUla. 'I wanted to come to a team that knew how to win the Grand Tours. They have done it successfully with different riders and it's looking like it paid off,' said Yates. 'All of us have doubts if we are doing the right thing or on the right path. I've also had a lot of setbacks, not just here at the Giro but at other races as well, where I've thought maybe it's time to stop and do something else. 'I had no bad luck this year, which is what I had in the past.' Kooij won the bunch sprint which has become a feature of the finales in Rome, pipping Kaden Groves, Matteo Moschetti and Mads Pedersen to claim his second win of this year's hugely entertaining three-week race around Italy. Visma wanted the perfect finish, with Yates and Kooij both victorious in the Eternal City, and they executed it to perfection when Wout van Aert led the sprint out on the final kilometre before Kooij surged ahead to take the victory, his second after winning stage 12. 'We couldn't wish for a better final weekend. Yesterday was really amazing for the team and today I just had to give everything that was still left in the legs. The team made it a lot easier. I just had to push it until the line,' said Kooij. 'With sprints it's never easy to do it like perfectly, but today we really committed, we just went all in, we were in perfect position and just happy to make it to the line. 'I was really happy with this Giro, making it to Rome and then winning here, it's really special.' Van Aert added: 'When the ketchup bottle is almost empty... keep shaking, shaking, shaking. Then at some point everything comes out at once, that's what happened. Yates started the day stood alongside Pope Leo XIV who blessed the peloton in a short stop in Vatican City before the race proper started. The Pope told the riders: 'I hope that, just as you have learned to take care of your bodies, you will also take care of your spirits.' The riders dismounted in front of the pontiff and Yates shook the Pope's hand before standing alongside points jersey winner Pederson, king of the mountains Lorenzo Fortunato and del Toro for a pre-race blessing. 'For some reason, I didn't realise we were going to stop. Immediately I thought we just passed through. An unforgettable moment for me and, I think, for all the riders,' said Yates. Del Toro had to content himself with the white jersey for best young rider after failing to spot the danger in Yates' attack on the Colle delle Finestre climb on May 31, which ended up deciding the title. Yates could still be on a high from his Giro win when he lines up alongside Vingegaard at the upcoming Tour de France which starts on July 5. AFP, REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
New Straits Times
17 hours ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
Reserved, resilient Simon Yates casts off Giro demons to crown career
ROME: Simon Yates crowned his cycling career with Sunday's victory in the Giro d'Italia, the Briton putting behind him a series of disappointments to claim the biggest win of his life. Reserved Yates ended years of frustration when he rolled across the line in front of the Circus Maximus Rome wearing the pink jersey for the overall Giro leader, taken with an astonishing performance in Saturday's penultimate stage. "To be honest, I think it's the peak of my career. I don't think anything will top this," said Yates on Saturday. Other than being more guarded, veteran Yates is otherwise indistinguishable from his twin brother Adam, with whom he stood at the start of the 21st and final stage of the Italian Grand Tour. Simon was born a few minutes before Adam 32 years ago in Bury, in northern England, and the pair began cycling together at the nearby Manchester velodrome at the behest of their father John who was himself a cyclist. "I'm happy for him, he's my brother, he's done a good job. We'll celebrate together tonight," said Adam who is one of the leaders of UAE Team Emirates. The brothers both made their professional debuts for the Australian team Orica, now known as Jayco-AlUla. But their paths separated in 2021 when Adam moved to Ineos, while Simon stayed put until last winter when he made the switch to Visma-Lease a bike, a team big enough that he wouldn't have to be the sole leader. Simon Yates is a pure climber probably would never have thought he's had to wait seven years for his second Grand Tour win after taking the Vuelta a Espana title in 2018. Between then and Sunday's victory he obtained some impressive results, like third in the 2021 Giro and fourth in the Tour de France last year, but he also had to deal with a host of setbacks. One of those came just before this year's Giro when he was hit by a car during high-altitude training camp in Tenerife. At the same time he was targeting the brutal Colle delle Finistre climb, the site of Saturday's decisive charge to overall victory and redemption for a harrowing defeat on the same ascent seven years before. Yates lost the pink jersey the last time the Finistre featured in the Giro, on the 19th stage of the 2018 edition when he ended up finishing over an hour behind eventual victor Chris Froome in the overall standings. It was a defeat which stayed with Yates right until Saturday's stunning solo attack which allowed him to do to Isaac Del Toro what fellow Briton Froome did to him all those years ago. "I always had in the back of my mind to try something on this stage, on this climb that has, let's say, defined my career so far," said Yates on Saturday.
Canada Standard
21 hours ago
- Sport
- Canada Standard
Britain's Yates wins Giro d'Italia after decisive mountain attack, secures first title on sixth attempt
ROME, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Simon Yates of Britain claimed his first overall victory in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, wrapping up the 108th edition of the three-week race in Rome after seizing the leader's pink jersey with a bold mountain attack in the penultimate stage. The 31-year-old became the third British cyclist to win the Giro, completing the 3,443-kilometer route in 82 hours, 31 minutes and one second - finishing three minutes and 56 seconds ahead of Mexico's Isaac Del Toro. Ecuador's Richard Carapaz placed third, with Canada's Derek Gee and Italy's Damiano Caruso rounding out the top five. Yates entered Saturday's mountainous 20th stage in third overall, trailing Del Toro by one minute and 21 seconds. He launched a decisive move on the second-to-last climb, gaining nearly four minutes on his rival to take control of the general classification. "This is the defining moment of my career," Yates said post-race. "I've had some great results, but nothing compares to this. It's been an amazing three weeks." It marked Yates' second Grand Tour victory, following his 2018 Vuelta a Espana win. That same year, he wore the pink jersey for 13 stages at the Giro before being overtaken by compatriot Chris Froome. Yates, who last raced the Giro in 2021 and finished third, returned this year after a two-year absence, during which Slovenian riders Primoz Roglic and Tadej Pogacar dominated in 2023 and 2024 respectively. With this win, Yates joins Froome and Tao Geoghegan Hart as the only Britons to have captured the Giro title. He also becomes just the second British cyclist to win multiple Grand Tours. Del Toro, 21, claimed the best young rider classification. Denmark's Mads Pedersen secured the points jersey, while Italy's Lorenzo Fortunato was crowned best climber. The race's top eight riders represented eight different teams. The next Grand Tour, the Tour de France, will take place from July 5 to 27.
The Advertiser
a day ago
- Sport
- The Advertiser
Briton Yates secures elusive Giro d'Italia title
Simon Yates has claimed victory at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, securing his second Grand Tour triumph having effectively sealed the title a day earlier when he snatched the pink jersey from Isaac Del Toro. Yates and other riders received blessings from Pope Leo at the Vatican on Sunday before the Briton cruised to the finish in Rome on the final stage, which was won by teammate Olav Kooij in a sprint finish ahead of battling Australian rider Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Groves' compatriot Michael Storer was the highest ranked Australian rider overall, finishing 10th in the general classification. Fellow Australian Chris Harper, who won Saturday's brutal penultimate stage from Verres to Sestriere, finished 23rd overall. Yates, riding in all pink on a pink bike, also became the first rider since Alberto Contador in 2015 to win the Giro without claiming victory on any of the stages. The Briton wore pink for 13 days during the 2018 Giro before cracking on one of the final climbs. He also had to withdraw from the Italian race in 2020 and 2022 — because of coronavirus and a knee injury, respectively. "I'm still in shock of what I've done," Yates said. "It's something that I've been working toward for a long time." Yates, who rides for Team Visma Lease a Bike, finished 3 minutes, 56 seconds ahead of Del Toro and 4:43 ahead of Richard Carapaz, the 2019 champion from Ecuador. After riding 3,300 km through Italy, Albania and Slovenia, the final stage was a 143km ride starting and finishing in Rome, including eight laps of a 9.5 km long circuit in the Eternal City. As the riders cycled past Rome's landmarks like the Colosseum, a six-man breakaway went 24 seconds ahead of the pink jersey group with less than 50 km to go. But by the time they had one lap left, four riders were dropped, with only Josef Cerny and Enzo Paleni left in the lead. Cerny then dropped Paleni to attempt a solo ride to the finish but he was quickly reeled in with six kilometres left. Visma-Lease a Bike wanted the perfect finish and they executed it to perfection when Wout Van Aert led the sprint out on the final kilometre before Kooij surged ahead to take the victory, his second after winning stage 12, just pipping Groves and Matteo Moschetti. Simon Yates has claimed victory at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, securing his second Grand Tour triumph having effectively sealed the title a day earlier when he snatched the pink jersey from Isaac Del Toro. Yates and other riders received blessings from Pope Leo at the Vatican on Sunday before the Briton cruised to the finish in Rome on the final stage, which was won by teammate Olav Kooij in a sprint finish ahead of battling Australian rider Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Groves' compatriot Michael Storer was the highest ranked Australian rider overall, finishing 10th in the general classification. Fellow Australian Chris Harper, who won Saturday's brutal penultimate stage from Verres to Sestriere, finished 23rd overall. Yates, riding in all pink on a pink bike, also became the first rider since Alberto Contador in 2015 to win the Giro without claiming victory on any of the stages. The Briton wore pink for 13 days during the 2018 Giro before cracking on one of the final climbs. He also had to withdraw from the Italian race in 2020 and 2022 — because of coronavirus and a knee injury, respectively. "I'm still in shock of what I've done," Yates said. "It's something that I've been working toward for a long time." Yates, who rides for Team Visma Lease a Bike, finished 3 minutes, 56 seconds ahead of Del Toro and 4:43 ahead of Richard Carapaz, the 2019 champion from Ecuador. After riding 3,300 km through Italy, Albania and Slovenia, the final stage was a 143km ride starting and finishing in Rome, including eight laps of a 9.5 km long circuit in the Eternal City. As the riders cycled past Rome's landmarks like the Colosseum, a six-man breakaway went 24 seconds ahead of the pink jersey group with less than 50 km to go. But by the time they had one lap left, four riders were dropped, with only Josef Cerny and Enzo Paleni left in the lead. Cerny then dropped Paleni to attempt a solo ride to the finish but he was quickly reeled in with six kilometres left. Visma-Lease a Bike wanted the perfect finish and they executed it to perfection when Wout Van Aert led the sprint out on the final kilometre before Kooij surged ahead to take the victory, his second after winning stage 12, just pipping Groves and Matteo Moschetti. Simon Yates has claimed victory at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, securing his second Grand Tour triumph having effectively sealed the title a day earlier when he snatched the pink jersey from Isaac Del Toro. Yates and other riders received blessings from Pope Leo at the Vatican on Sunday before the Briton cruised to the finish in Rome on the final stage, which was won by teammate Olav Kooij in a sprint finish ahead of battling Australian rider Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Groves' compatriot Michael Storer was the highest ranked Australian rider overall, finishing 10th in the general classification. Fellow Australian Chris Harper, who won Saturday's brutal penultimate stage from Verres to Sestriere, finished 23rd overall. Yates, riding in all pink on a pink bike, also became the first rider since Alberto Contador in 2015 to win the Giro without claiming victory on any of the stages. The Briton wore pink for 13 days during the 2018 Giro before cracking on one of the final climbs. He also had to withdraw from the Italian race in 2020 and 2022 — because of coronavirus and a knee injury, respectively. "I'm still in shock of what I've done," Yates said. "It's something that I've been working toward for a long time." Yates, who rides for Team Visma Lease a Bike, finished 3 minutes, 56 seconds ahead of Del Toro and 4:43 ahead of Richard Carapaz, the 2019 champion from Ecuador. After riding 3,300 km through Italy, Albania and Slovenia, the final stage was a 143km ride starting and finishing in Rome, including eight laps of a 9.5 km long circuit in the Eternal City. As the riders cycled past Rome's landmarks like the Colosseum, a six-man breakaway went 24 seconds ahead of the pink jersey group with less than 50 km to go. But by the time they had one lap left, four riders were dropped, with only Josef Cerny and Enzo Paleni left in the lead. Cerny then dropped Paleni to attempt a solo ride to the finish but he was quickly reeled in with six kilometres left. Visma-Lease a Bike wanted the perfect finish and they executed it to perfection when Wout Van Aert led the sprint out on the final kilometre before Kooij surged ahead to take the victory, his second after winning stage 12, just pipping Groves and Matteo Moschetti. Simon Yates has claimed victory at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, securing his second Grand Tour triumph having effectively sealed the title a day earlier when he snatched the pink jersey from Isaac Del Toro. Yates and other riders received blessings from Pope Leo at the Vatican on Sunday before the Briton cruised to the finish in Rome on the final stage, which was won by teammate Olav Kooij in a sprint finish ahead of battling Australian rider Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Groves' compatriot Michael Storer was the highest ranked Australian rider overall, finishing 10th in the general classification. Fellow Australian Chris Harper, who won Saturday's brutal penultimate stage from Verres to Sestriere, finished 23rd overall. Yates, riding in all pink on a pink bike, also became the first rider since Alberto Contador in 2015 to win the Giro without claiming victory on any of the stages. The Briton wore pink for 13 days during the 2018 Giro before cracking on one of the final climbs. He also had to withdraw from the Italian race in 2020 and 2022 — because of coronavirus and a knee injury, respectively. "I'm still in shock of what I've done," Yates said. "It's something that I've been working toward for a long time." Yates, who rides for Team Visma Lease a Bike, finished 3 minutes, 56 seconds ahead of Del Toro and 4:43 ahead of Richard Carapaz, the 2019 champion from Ecuador. After riding 3,300 km through Italy, Albania and Slovenia, the final stage was a 143km ride starting and finishing in Rome, including eight laps of a 9.5 km long circuit in the Eternal City. As the riders cycled past Rome's landmarks like the Colosseum, a six-man breakaway went 24 seconds ahead of the pink jersey group with less than 50 km to go. But by the time they had one lap left, four riders were dropped, with only Josef Cerny and Enzo Paleni left in the lead. Cerny then dropped Paleni to attempt a solo ride to the finish but he was quickly reeled in with six kilometres left. Visma-Lease a Bike wanted the perfect finish and they executed it to perfection when Wout Van Aert led the sprint out on the final kilometre before Kooij surged ahead to take the victory, his second after winning stage 12, just pipping Groves and Matteo Moschetti.
The Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Simon Yates Wins 2025 Giro d'Italia in Historic Finish
SIMON YATES of Visma-Lease a Bike won the 2025 Giro d'Italia on Sunday to claim his second Grand Tour victory, having effectively sealed the title a day earlier when he snatched the pink jersey from Isaac Del Toro. Yates and other riders received blessings from Pope Leo at the Vatican before the Briton cruised to the finish in Rome on the final stage, which was won by teammate Olav Kooij in a sprint finish. Yates, riding in all pink on a pink bike, also became the first rider since Alberto Contador in 2015 to win the Giro without claiming victory on any of the stages. His victory added to his 2018 Vuelta a Espana title. 'Honestly, it's still sinking in. What a huge moment in my career... I couldn't be prouder of the whole team over three weeks,' said Yates, the Giro's 12th different winner in as many editions. 'It's been good that we had the possibility to win the last stage with Olav. So we kept focused till the end. It's a defining moment of my career, there's no doubt about that. It's a sweet success.' Having raced for more than 82 hours, Yates eventually finished three minutes and 56 seconds ahead of Del Toro while Richard Carapaz was third, a further 47 seconds behind. Yates, 32, famously lost the title in 2018 on the Colle delle Finestre climb but this year he closed that painful chapter on the same slopes by taking the pink jersey with Saturday's stunning attack in the mountains. After a 3,300-km journey through Italy, Albania and Slovenia, the final stage was a 143-km ride starting and finishing in Rome, including eight laps of a 9.5 km long circuit. Pope's blessings The riders also had time to meet Pope Leo, who was gifted a pink jersey before they left Vatican City and rode into Rome. 'I hope that, just as you have learned to take care of your bodies, you will also take care of your spirits,' the pope told the riders. With the final stage underway, a relaxed Yates was all smiles as he cycled next to his twin brother Adam, putting his arm around the UAE Team Emirates rider. As the riders cycled past Rome's landmarks like the Colosseum, a six-man breakaway went 24 seconds ahead of the pink jersey group with less than 50 km to go. But with one lap left, only Josef Cerny and Enzo Paleni were left in the lead. Cerny then dropped Paleni to attempt a solo ride to the finish but he was quickly reeled in with six kilometres left. Visma-Lease a Bike wanted the perfect finish and they executed it to perfection when Wout Van Aert led the sprint out on the final kilometre before Kooij surged ahead to take the victory, his second after winning stage 12. 'We couldn't wish for a better final weekend. Yesterday was really amazing for the team and today I just had to give everything that was left in the legs,' Kooij said after his victory sealed a third stage win for the team this year. Kooij finished ahead of Kaden Groves and Matteo Moschetti as Visma-Lease a Bike became the first team in 26 years to win both the general classification and the final stage. 'When the ketchup bottle is almost empty... keep shaking, shaking, shaking,' Van Aert said. 'Then at some point everything comes out at once, that's what happened.'
