“Simon had been talking about this stage since last winter” – Visma reveal months of preparation went into Simon Yates’ Giro revenge

Today we witnessed a moment that will live long in the hearts of Team Visma | Lease a Bike and cycling fans. Why? It was a day of true redemption.

In 2018, Simon Yates arrived at the Colle delle Finestre wearing the maglia rosa and carrying the weight of a nation’s expectations. By the time he crested the iconic gravel-clad climb, the dream was in ruins. He cracked spectacularly, spiralling out of contention in what remains one of the most dramatic collapses in recent Grand Tour history. For years, the Finestre has haunted him.

In 2025, he returned, and this time, he broke the climb, not the other way around.

Seven years after that cruel unraveling, Yates has won the Giro d’Italia. And fittingly, it was on the very slopes of the Finestre that he launched the winning move. It’s the kind of narrative arc that cycling rarely allows, but today the cycling Gods truly granted Simon Yates his dream.

Visma | Lease a Bike directeur sportif Marc Reef, speaking to Eurosport, confirmed that this moment had been long in the making. “Simon had been talking about this stage since last winter,” Reef revealed. “Everyone knows what happened in the Giro in 2018. He fell through on the Finestre then, he really wanted to show it here today.”

Yates wasn’t just chasing pink, he was chasing closure.

The stage plan from Visma was deliberate. “We had a good plan, with Wout [van Aert] in the breakaway,” Reef explained. “We were lucky because the difference became so big, which created the chance that Wout would come over the Finestre. If Simon then had the legs, he could have been a great added value.”

That plan unfolded to perfection. As Carapaz and Del Toro marked each other, play a game of chicken, Yates seized his chance. “Carapaz and Del Toro looked at each other a lot,” Reef said. “Which gave him the gap he was hoping for… but of course you have to have the legs to make the difference yourself.”

Yates had them. And perhaps for the first time in this race, he also had the perfect support.

“Wout really did a fantastic job,” Reef said of Van Aert’s role. “Without him, it would have been more difficult. He really made the difference towards the foot of Sestriere.” The Belgian star paced Yates brilliantly once the gap had opened, helping to consolidate the time gain on the GC favourites. “We were in constant contact with him about the time differences and where he was passing, so that we could time it as well,” Reef continued. “Eventually, three kilometres from the top, we realised that he was going to make it.”

From there, it was a matter of holding on, descending cleanly, resisting late charges, and letting the years of frustration fuel the final push to pink.

“I can’t express it in a few words,” Reef said of the overall victory. “It’s fantastic for the team… Simon himself has also always been good and sharp when it was needed. In the more explosive moments Carapaz and Del Toro were better, but today on the Finestre he showed that he is mentally very strong. He made the difference.”

That mental strength has always been central to Yates’ career, a blend of quiet self-belief and stubborn resolve. But the Giro has often been cruel to him. This time, he came armed not just with legs, but with a team built around him, one that finally matched the collective strength of his rivals.

Even teammate Steven Kruijswijk, who himself knows what it means to lose the Giro in the high mountains, was moved. “It’s unbelievable, the story we were hoping for,” he told Eurosport. “That Simon takes the jersey on the Finestre, the climb where he lost it in the past, is fantastic. He’s been fighting the entire Giro, against two insanely strong riders. He kept believing in it despite that. He needed one super day, and today was his day.”

Kruijswijk, who crashed out of pink contention in 2017 during a treacherous descent, was philosophical when asked whether this felt like a personal form of revenge. “What happened with my Giro is a thing of the past,” he said. “That’s cycling, you see it now—you can lose on the last day, but you can also win.”