"I went for it but it wasn’t enough" - Simon Yates adds another podium result in Isola 2000

Simon Yates finished third in the nineteenth stage of the Tour de France on Friday. The Briton was one of the early escapees who were eventually passed by the lightning fast Tadej Pogacar.

But before the Slovenian unleashed his horses, it long seemed like Yates might've a solid shot at the stage win. "Visma | Lease a Bike had the upper hand, I had to play it cool," said the Jayco AlUla rider at Eurosport. He was in the leading group with Visma duo Wilco Kelderman and Matteo Jorgenson. "I was also afraid of the altitude. I went for it but it wasn’t enough."

In addition to Kelderman and Jorgenson, two former Giro d'Italia winners Jai Hindley and Richard Carapaz (also Olympic champion) were also in the leading group. "You get an idea of ​​who is good and who is not. It is no surprise that the Olympic champion is strong. Carapaz was good but perhaps had to pay for his efforts in the past few days. I tried to wait for my moment, but it was not enough."

On the final climb to Isola 2000, Yates first had to let Jorgenson go and then saw Pogacar storm past. "I didn’t have much going through my mind," he said of that last moment. "I was done. It was a mistake to try to follow him. I blew myself up for the last two kilometers."