"Yates made it happen with his legs and heart" - Ex-pro refutes that Simon Yates was gifted the Giro win for free

The main story of this Giro d'Italia must be that of Simon Yates. Seven years after a brutal heartbreak on the slopes of Colle delle Finestre, the 32-year-old Brit returned to the scene of his greatest defeat and executed a perfect revenge. Assisted by phenomenal Wout Van Aert, the Visma | Lease a Bike duo prepared a coup to completely overthrow the GC at last opportunity. And they succeeded to the dot.

"It was clear that Yates was on a mission, experiencing a day that riders can only dream of in such situations," Bobby Julich looked back for Velo at the Brit's ride on Finestre where he gained more than a minute on hesitant duo Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz.

The former professional points out that Yates didn't get that victory for nothing as it may have seemed. "Everyone knew that to make a difference on this stage, you had to do it on the Colle delle Finestre, as the final climb to Sestrière from this direction would not be as selective due to its mild gradient. If there was a master plan from Visma | Lease a Bike in place, Yates made it happen with his legs and heart."

Julich also returns to the Mexican provisional leader from whom he'd have loved to see more determination to win. "My only critique is that I would have liked to see more passion and grit on the Colle delle Finestre. Winning a grand tour is not always pretty, and if you are going to lose the race on the penultimate climb, go down swinging with your tongue on the top tube!"

Still, he has not doubt that the 21-year-old will compete for a Grand Tour victory sooner, rather than later. Although it'll be hard to find his chance with UAE. "I hope Del Toro will have the chance to be in this situation again and learn from his mistakes. However, he may not have any opportunity like this for a long time due to the long list of general classification specialists who didn’t participate in the Giro this year."