Briton Simon Yates tightens his grip on Giro dItalia crown
Britain's Simon Yates revelled in his impressive solo win on stage 15 which extended his lead at the top of the general classification and tightened his grip on the Giro dItalia title.
Mitchelton-Scotts Yates claimed his third stage win of the race on the road to Sappada, finishing 41 seconds clear of Astanas Miguel Angel Lopez, while defending champion Tom Dumoulin was third.
With the addition of bonus seconds, Yates now leads Dumoulin by two minutes and 11 seconds, although the Dutchman is expected to reduce that during Tuesdays time trial, which starts in Trento.
Yates is the first man to win three stages of the race while in the pink jersey since Gilberto Simoni in 2003. Simoni went on to claim overall victory that year and Yates, who is bidding to become the first Briton to win the Giro, likes the symmetry.
“I didnt know that,” said Yates. “I do like the stats, I like the numbers. Its really fantastic. I dont know why but Im a bit emotional after today. I really gave it everything.
“Its a good gap but [Dumoulin] could take two minutes out of me in a time trial. Ive been fighting since Israel to have a good gap. Im happy with that gap but it could disappear in 35km. Well have to see.”
Yates made two penetrative attacks during the latter stages of the 15th stage, with the second taking him clear for good. He added: “It was instinct. When we came off the descent I saw there was a little gap to a few guys, so I asked Jack [Haig] to push up the pace, then George [Bennett] attacked.
“It was really hard from the bottom of the climb, but I felt good so I chose the moment to go. Im a bit emotional because I gave it everything the second time to get away, and it worked. I think it was the hardest 15 kilometres of my life.”
Fellow Briton Chris Froome, meanwhile, lost a minute and a half on the day and is now almost five minutes down on Yates and has dropped two places in the general classification to seventh.
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