“Our plan was to really destroy the race” – EF Education-EasyPost reveal how Simon Yates stole the Giro d’Italia

Stage 20 of the Giro d’Italia 2025 saw a tactical explosion on the slopes of the Colle delle Finestre, one that delivered Simon Yates the Maglia Rosa and left rivals Isaac Del Toro and Richard Carapaz ruing missed chances. While Yates celebrated redemption, EF Education-EasyPost have now lifted the lid on the bold plan that almost worked, and the frustration that followed when UAE Team Emirates - XRG refused to play along.

“To be honest, I slept very well,” said EF sports director Juan Manuel Gárate the day after the stage, speaking to In de Leiderstrui. “I am proud of my riders and of the attitude that Richard showed. We saw things that not only I but many cycling fans will not understand. But we did not come to this race to defend a second place, we wanted to win. We had clear ideas and we fully executed our plan.”

At the heart of that strategy was an intent to turn the stage into a war of attrition, isolating race leader Isaac Del Toro and forcing him to crack without team support.

“Our plan was to really destroy the race. We wanted to make it a man-to-man fight, because we saw the strategy of UAE on Friday. Then they kept two men with Del Toro, who blocked the course. Towards Sestriere you needed teammates, so we wanted to isolate Del Toro as quickly as possible, by making everyone go completely red from the bottom. Then it was 17 kilometers to the top, man-to-man.”

That all-out attack came at a cost, with EF riders pushing to their limits from the base of the Finestre. Gárate explained they had specific intentions for how to control the break and deploy their riders.

“We didn't want anyone in the breakaway and would have liked to keep it within seven minutes. That way, not many riders would have been able to join us on the Finestre. Unfortunately, we went off the road on a descent and we only wanted to use Kasper Asgreen to control, so that we could save the rest of the team for the action uphill.”

“We didn't have the pink jersey, so chasing with more than one man wouldn't have made sense. It was also good for us to have Van Aert with us at the front, right?”

As for the critical moment, when Simon Yates made his move and ultimately won the Giro, Gárate revealed that Carapaz was instructed not to follow, in order to test Del Toro’s nerve and endurance.

“Richard would normally have gone with Yates, and he would have also benefited from Wout. But he had tried three times and had not let go of Del Toro, so we told him to let Yates go. He was 1.20 minutes behind Del Toro, who had no teammate in front. So that was how we wanted to put pressure on Del Toro. But it didn't work, because he didn't ride.”

What followed clearly left the EF camp perplexed, particularly Del Toro’s passive response to the crisis.

“How many times in your journalistic career have you seen a pink jersey wearer who hasn't ridden the entire stage and then sprints for ninth place in the results?” Gárate asked pointedly.

The team had still hoped to strike again on the final climb to Sestriere, but their hopes faded when UAE’s key domestiques managed to stay close and Del Toro never committed to a chase.

“I only let Richard ride three kilometers in front and those were the last kilometers of the Finestre, because I didn't want to let Brandon McNulty and Rafal Majka, teammates of Del Toro, return,” Gárate explained. “I wanted to put even more pressure on Del Toro towards the valley, so that he couldn't hesitate on the way to Sestriere and had to ride. And then we could have dropped him on the final climb, although from the Finestre it had always been for second place. It's good like this.”