Simon Yates eyes Giro d’Italia ‘patience’ while playing down chances
Yates is making a fifth bid for the pink jersey and infamously led the 2018 race for 13 days before falling away
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Simon Yates says he has learned how to be patient ahead of the start of this year’s Giro d’Italia, while playing down his chances of winning the pink jersey.
The Giro d’Italia begins on Friday in Budapest with the 29-year-old Yates among the favourites to win the first Grand Tour of the year.
Yates is making a fifth bid for the pink jersey and infamously led the 2018 race for 13 days before falling away in stage 19 as Chris Froome launched his attack.
Yates went on to win the Vuelta a España that year but a third place finish 12 months ago is the closest he has came since to winning the Giro.
“I’ve learned patience,” Yates said. “You need to be quite calm. The race is three weeks.
“You can always go back to 2018 where we really went after it in the first and second weeks and then fell apart in the third.
“But even last year I had some problems with my hamstrings in the first week but still came good towards the end, managed a stage and arrived on the podium.
“You’ve got to have an eye on the big picture, be patient and wait for the race to come to you.”
Yates is among the general classification favourites ahead of the 21-stage race, with the Ineos rider and 2019 winner Richard Carapaz also strongly fancied.
“The riders are just anxious to start,” Yates said. “There are others who will be competitive.
“Take it back to last year. I’d won the Tour of the Alps and I kept reading I was a massive favourite.
“Romain Bardet won the Tour of the Alps this year and I’ve heard nothing about him so there’s a few guys flying under the radar.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments