British rider, Simon Yates, returned for this year’s edition of the Giro d'Italia, after two years away, to win the Italian Grand Tour – following previous years, where illness, injury and indifferent form plagued his previous attempts.
Despite not considered one of the pre-race favourites, he managed to conquer this brutal race after keeping himself in contention throughout, the Bury, Greater Manchester born UCI WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike rider rolled across the line to seal his second Grand Tour title since the 2018 Vuelta a Espana. After crossing the line in Sestriere, in his post-stage interviews, the tearful 32-yyear-old
"I've really invested a lot of my career and my life into targeting this race, and there've been a lot of setbacks," he said whilst wearing the much-vaunted maglia rosa - the leader's jersey - for the first time since 2018. Following an underwhelming eighth in 2019, he was forced to withdraw after contracting Covid-19 in 2020.
He had a difficult fortnight in 2021 before finishing third. Following a knee injury in a crash early on in 2022, he was forced to abandon the rail.
The 32-year-old is the first Giro winner since Alberto Contador in 2015 not to also win a stage. Having turned professional in 2014, Yates and twin brother Adam joined Australian outfit Orica–GreenEdge, before Adam left in 2020 - Simon remained with the team, now called Jayco–AlUla, until the end of last season, before joining Visma-Lease a Bike.
Yates admitted that he was disappointed at his own performance, before channelling his frustration as Visma's plan worked perfectly. "A lot of people can resonate with the story, losing the race a long time ago now, in 2018," he said before the final stage.
“The way I've managed to take it, I really think it's touched a lot of people."
He is set to ride this year's Tour in support of team-mate Jonas Vingegaard, who is bidding for a third title, with Yates possibly able to target stage wins too.
