Simon Yates reveals he was hit by car in training for 2025 Giro d'Italia: "I was also sick so that was not perfect"

With Wout van Aert having a well documented battle with illness ahead of the 2025 Giro d'Italia, it seems he wasn't the only Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader with a disrupted preparation for the opening Grand Tour of the season.

"I had a really good offseason, I didn't have any problems. Unfortunately, in Tenerife for the first altitude camp and I was hit by a car, and that delayed my preparation there," Team Visma | Lease a Bike's general classification hopeful, Simon Yates revealed to Cycling News from the start of stage 3 of the Giro on Sunday. "Then, after the camp, only a week before Tirreno, I was also sick, so that was not the perfect end to final preparations, either. Still, I went ok at Tirreno, I was getting better at Catalunya and hopefully here I can take another step, too."

Given all this disruption in Yates' preparation for his first Grand Tour with Team Visma | Lease a Bike, it's impressive that the former Vuelta a Espana winner is sitting 12th in the general classification at the first rest day, 42 seconds down on the Maglia Rosa, but more importantly, just 33 seconds behind Primoz Roglic and 17 seconds off Juan Ayuso.

"The time trial went ok," Yates reflected on his own performances at the Giro d'Italia so far. "I would say it was not a great course for me, being a smaller guy, but I was there or thereabouts compared to some of the GC guys. Of course, some of them were in front of me [on the stage classification], but I did a good job."

And after having spent the entirety of his pro career before this year within the Team Jayco AlUla set up, it must also be remembered that Yates is having to adapt to new surroundings and new methods. "Obviously, it's very different to what I was used to at Jayco, both have their pros and their cons. In Jayco, I had a lot more responsibility to prepare myself, whereas here it's very structured, very organised for everybody. It depends on what you consider the best approach to be, but I'm enjoying myself so far," Yates compares. "Is there less pressure? Not really. I wouldn't say I feel pressure from outside, it's more pressure I put on myself to perform."

"What is different is that that I actually have less responsibility around the race, in terms of interviews and media and so on," adds the 32-year-old Brit in conclusion. "I'm enjoying that quite thoroughly and hopefully that continues."