Nico Denz (Bora) wins stage 18 from a 40 strong breakaway, a day after Roglic withdraws. Juan Ayuso withdraws early on after a bee sting on the face!! Had a terrible two and a bit weeks. Both GC favourites at the start of the tour now out!
Stage 19; Nicolas Prodhomme wins from the breakaway for Decathlon. With 5000 metres of climbing, it was the hardest GT stage in 20 years. Breakaway never got over two or three minutes. Always felt like we were waiting for the fireworks to start and they finally did with 6.7 to go Carapaz went, Yates didn’t, the pink jersey the only rider to follow him. Yates fighting with Derek Gee for 3rd overall going to Rome on Sunday now. No surprise the pasty British lad fell in 28 degree heat over the South Americans. Del Toro and Carapaz rode down to the line together. Gravel and the final mountain stage today.
Is it going to get warmer than it is now, you know how these pasty faced brits can get.................
When Wout waited for Simon ❤️, Visma absolutely schooled UAE in tactics today. The stuff of legends and absolutely nothing better than seeing a sportsman (or woman) get redemption. Fucking get in.
Yates went with about 39k to go and then got *dropped (right at the start of Finestre) Watch the whole stage if you haven’t/can. He absolutely mugged them all (and me of course). Absolutely sensational. Can’t wait to hear the post match interviews
Fun fact(s)… Finestre was a road built for horses to drag building materials up and only entered the giro 20 years ago. First 8k is a 9% consistent gradient. The other 10k up to 14% with 45 hairpins. it takes an hour for a pro cyclist to ride up. Yates beat Froomes record time by over 5 minutes today. The breakaway had 10 minutes plus going into the start of the Finestre, Yates pulled it back to 2 minutes by the finish. Del toro and carapaz finished over 8 minutes behind. Maddest turnaround I think I’ve ever witnessed
WOW! That’s one of the greatest moments in British sports that I’ve ever seen – pure Hollywood. I just hope that Simon Yates gets the media attention he deserves.
Stage 21 (Rome); The four jersey holders got an audience with the pope just before the start of kilometre zero
