"I always had the thought to come back" - Simon Yates' patience was rewarded at the 2025 Giro d'Italia

For three weeks, we barely heard his name. But Simon Yates knew exactly what he was doing and made his move at the most crucial moment of the Giro d'Italia to steal the spotlight along with overall victory on Colle delle Finestre. An emotional moment for the man who lost the Giro on the same climb seven years ago.

"It's a race that I've targeted for many many years and always come up short," Yates says in a commemorative video shared via the team YouTube channel. "So to finally pull it off, I was in disbelief. I can still feel the emotions and tears coming out. It was an unbelievable day."

"I actually don't even know where to start," he sums up later on a teambus before last stage. "We had the idea you know that if the technical battle started between those two guys in front of me um that I could try and take advantage. And in the end that's how it happened. I had the legs to be there as well and of course how important it was for Wout [Van Aert] to be there in the front actually for the valley."

Thanks to the whole story around his victory, you couldn't think of a more perfect way to wrap this Giro, Yates knows that too. "I think it couldn't have been any more perfect actually. I cannot believe how smoothly the whole three weeks have gone. We never missed a beat. I've been in position all time, no crashes, no punctures. I didn't get sick. Just incredible three weeks."

To try and get revenge on the mythical col was always on Yates' mind, even if in the current era of aliens led by Tadej Pogacar, the opportunities have become scarce. "I always had the thought to come back and to try." And his patience was rewarded: "You never know until the moment came and I just really tried my best and managed to pull it off."

The 32-year-old could've only dreamt of such a day when he signed to Visma | Lease a Bike after having spent whole career with Jayco AlUla. "It was a big change for me after 11 years in the same team," he says at a team dinner on Sunday. "But I knew deep inside that I could do better and I needed a team that knew how to do it. I think right now is the pinnacle of my career actually. Thank you to every single one for making this possible."