Britain’s Yates seals first Giro title in Rome

Simon Yates of Great Britain won his first Giro d’Italia title in Rome by crossing the finish line without incident.

The 32-year-old Bury-born rider, who was third in the day’s stage 20, took the leader’s pink jersey for the first time on Saturday’s stage 20 with a sublime attack on the final climb.

Following a meeting with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, Yates and his Visma-Lease a Bike team-mates enjoyed a processional ride around the Italian capital.

Isaac del Toro of Mexico defeated Yates by three minutes, 56 seconds, and Richard Carapaz of Ecuador, who is third, 47 seconds further back.

Del Toro, age 21, won the best young rider award, Mads Pedersen from Denmark won the mauve points classification jersey, and Lorenzo Fortunato from Italy won the blue mountains classification jersey.

Following his victory in the 2018 Vuelta a Espana, Yates won his second Grand Tour title.

After Chris Froome, who won seven Grand Tours, he is the second British men’s cyclist to do so.

After Froome (2018) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (2020), Yates is the third British rider to win the Giro.

His victory comes seven years after his dramatic demise in the 2018 Giro, when Froome took the lead with an astonishing long-range attack two days away from Rome.

Yates made a fourth consecutive Giro appearance but struggled to finish in third place in 2021, his best finish.

Yates has now won the Giro on his sixth attempt after taking a two-year break from the sport, where he placed fourth overall in the 2023 Tour de France.

He will support team-mate Jonas Vingegaard, who wants a third Tour title, on this year’s Tour.