"Yates made it happen with his legs and heart" - Ex-pro refutes that Simon Yates was gifted the Giro win for free
Cycling
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."
Isaac del Toro
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."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- JV is really slighting himself with not doing the 1 dayers.. 🤷
leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin in this list is quite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
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