La Vuelta 2018 is Simon Yates' golden opportunity to win a Grand Tour
In the most open Grand Tour in years, Simon Yates finds himself with a golden opportunity to banish the heartbreak of the Giro.
The 26-year-old Brit riding for Mitchelton-Scott came unstuck at the Giro for one reason. It wasn't inexperience or not fueling properly or a crash.
Purely and simply he pushed his body too far in an effort to make up time before the stage 16 time trial. He also pushed himself so far into the red in Trento to Rovereto TT his climbing legs abandoned him when he needed them most. He had 56 seconds over Tom Dumoulin as the race ticked over to stage 17. He was three days from becoming the first Briton to win the Giro.
The problem was his race was now done. His body exhausted after riding the hardest he'd ever ridden for over a week just to retain the maglia rosa heading into the Alps.
The first signs were there in the finale of stage 18 to Prato Nevoso. With Max Schachmann's breakaway successful, attention turned to the GC battle. Several jabs were attempted before Froome struck the knockout punch, attacking just one time too many and Yates' legs gave in.
It probably wouldn't have made a difference who had attacked on the Colle Delle Finestre on stage 19, Yates wouldn't have been able to follow. The sour reality is that it was a fellow British rider who had nothing to lose who wrenched the jersey from his shoulders with one of the most epic attacks we've ever seen in cycling.
It was all or nothing for Team Sky and sadly for Yates he was left with nothing but what could have been.
"After the Giro he was pretty physically and mentally tired. Obviously going so close to winning and dominating with so many stage wins, he left it very disheartened and he actually got quite sick after the race finished. So he needed a good period off the bike."
Adam had a similar capitulation on stages 11 and 12 of the 2018 Tour - although it didn't happen at as crucial a time it was still an important blow to the Bury man's GC aspirations. He admitted to making a mistake and becoming severely dehydrated over the course of the first mountain stage to La Rosiere: he dropped from seventh overall on stage 10 to 16th and then 22nd.
Both were emblematic of Yates twin's careers to this point. They've done very well in week-long stage races but they are yet to convert that form into a pink, yellow or red jersey. Perhaps a symptom of being talked up so highly so early in their careers.
The one aspect very much on their side is age. Both are now 26 and no longer qualify for the young rider category. A step that, as we saw with Simon at the Giro, will see them targeting the top of the podium, rather than a top 10 finish and the white jersey.
For those riders not coming off the Tour and going straight into the Vuelta, the Tour of Poland is the tune-up race of choice on the WorldTour; this year won by Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski, with Yates second, Thibaut Pinot third (Groupama-FDJ) and George Bennett third (LottoNL-Jumbo).
"He exited the Tour of Poland with a really nice win on the last day and was also very close to robbing Michal Kwiatkowski of the overall lead", explained White.
"His prep has been different - you have to when it's your second Grand Tour of the year - but I think we're in a good place heading into the Vuelta."
One reason for this is the lack of time trial kilometres in the race (an 8km prologue and 32km on stage 16) but also because the general classification riders who are also world class in time trials - Primoz Roglic, Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin - are focusing on the Tour of Britain before the World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, at the end of September.
With such high profile names taking a break from Grand Touring, this Vuelta has been coined by one media outlet as the 'race of redemption', and there's a lot of truth behind that.
There are very, very few contenders who are coming into the final Grand Tour of the year in good form and injury free; Yates, Bennett, Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) are the only ones you could argue have had a clean run of preparation in the last few months with no injury to work through or crash of form.
As for those with issues, the list is extensive; Vincenzo Nibali broke a vertebrae at the Tour after colliding with a fan on Alpe d'Huez and will be focusing on honing his form for the Worlds; Wilco Kelderman is coming back from a shoulder injury at the Dutch Nationals; Richie Porte crashed out with a broken collarbone on the Roubaix stage before the peloton had even reached the pavé; Rigoberto Uran had similar bad luck and has been quiet all season; Thibaut Pinot was catastrophically ill at the end of the Giro and notoriously doesn't ride well in the heat of Spain, and Fabio Aru has looked a shadow of his 2015 Vuelta-winning-self, since imploding in the 2017 Vuelta.
Outside of those unknown quantities - which feels strange to say because of their accumulated successes - there's no one you would feel confident getting behind...except Yates.
With the lessons learned and a lack of overwhelming favourites going into the Vuelta, Simon finds himself in a far less stressful scenario. He doesn't have to look ahead and plot which stages he can make up time to use as a buffer in the latter time trial. He can simply race, comfortable in the knowledge that in this Grand Tour at least, the best climber - not the climber with the best time trial - will win the race.
White signs off saying: "Simon's very ambitious, as we are as a team as well. The main thing for us is to learn from the mistakes in the Giro and apply those in the Vuelta. The Vuelta will be won or lost in the last 48 hours in Andorra and we're confident he can be in the mix."
"I'll come back stronger" - Simon Yates, 28 May 2018.
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| Simon Yates wore the maglia rosa for 12 stages after taking it on the stage six finish on Mount Etna won by teammate Esteban Chaves Photo credit: road.cc |
Purely and simply he pushed his body too far in an effort to make up time before the stage 16 time trial. He also pushed himself so far into the red in Trento to Rovereto TT his climbing legs abandoned him when he needed them most. He had 56 seconds over Tom Dumoulin as the race ticked over to stage 17. He was three days from becoming the first Briton to win the Giro.
The problem was his race was now done. His body exhausted after riding the hardest he'd ever ridden for over a week just to retain the maglia rosa heading into the Alps.
The first signs were there in the finale of stage 18 to Prato Nevoso. With Max Schachmann's breakaway successful, attention turned to the GC battle. Several jabs were attempted before Froome struck the knockout punch, attacking just one time too many and Yates' legs gave in.
It probably wouldn't have made a difference who had attacked on the Colle Delle Finestre on stage 19, Yates wouldn't have been able to follow. The sour reality is that it was a fellow British rider who had nothing to lose who wrenched the jersey from his shoulders with one of the most epic attacks we've ever seen in cycling.
It was all or nothing for Team Sky and sadly for Yates he was left with nothing but what could have been.
The Recovery
"He's in a good place", said Yates' directeur sportif, Matt White, talking to The Cycling Podcast."After the Giro he was pretty physically and mentally tired. Obviously going so close to winning and dominating with so many stage wins, he left it very disheartened and he actually got quite sick after the race finished. So he needed a good period off the bike."
Adam had a similar capitulation on stages 11 and 12 of the 2018 Tour - although it didn't happen at as crucial a time it was still an important blow to the Bury man's GC aspirations. He admitted to making a mistake and becoming severely dehydrated over the course of the first mountain stage to La Rosiere: he dropped from seventh overall on stage 10 to 16th and then 22nd.
Both were emblematic of Yates twin's careers to this point. They've done very well in week-long stage races but they are yet to convert that form into a pink, yellow or red jersey. Perhaps a symptom of being talked up so highly so early in their careers.
The one aspect very much on their side is age. Both are now 26 and no longer qualify for the young rider category. A step that, as we saw with Simon at the Giro, will see them targeting the top of the podium, rather than a top 10 finish and the white jersey.
For those riders not coming off the Tour and going straight into the Vuelta, the Tour of Poland is the tune-up race of choice on the WorldTour; this year won by Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski, with Yates second, Thibaut Pinot third (Groupama-FDJ) and George Bennett third (LottoNL-Jumbo).
"He exited the Tour of Poland with a really nice win on the last day and was also very close to robbing Michal Kwiatkowski of the overall lead", explained White.
"His prep has been different - you have to when it's your second Grand Tour of the year - but I think we're in a good place heading into the Vuelta."
The Rivals
For the first time since 2013 there is no Froome or now retired Alberto Contador on the start list of a Vuelta a Espana, which signals a refreshing change from recent Grand Tours: time trials won't decide the race.One reason for this is the lack of time trial kilometres in the race (an 8km prologue and 32km on stage 16) but also because the general classification riders who are also world class in time trials - Primoz Roglic, Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin - are focusing on the Tour of Britain before the World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, at the end of September.
With such high profile names taking a break from Grand Touring, this Vuelta has been coined by one media outlet as the 'race of redemption', and there's a lot of truth behind that.
There are very, very few contenders who are coming into the final Grand Tour of the year in good form and injury free; Yates, Bennett, Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) are the only ones you could argue have had a clean run of preparation in the last few months with no injury to work through or crash of form.
As for those with issues, the list is extensive; Vincenzo Nibali broke a vertebrae at the Tour after colliding with a fan on Alpe d'Huez and will be focusing on honing his form for the Worlds; Wilco Kelderman is coming back from a shoulder injury at the Dutch Nationals; Richie Porte crashed out with a broken collarbone on the Roubaix stage before the peloton had even reached the pavé; Rigoberto Uran had similar bad luck and has been quiet all season; Thibaut Pinot was catastrophically ill at the end of the Giro and notoriously doesn't ride well in the heat of Spain, and Fabio Aru has looked a shadow of his 2015 Vuelta-winning-self, since imploding in the 2017 Vuelta.
Outside of those unknown quantities - which feels strange to say because of their accumulated successes - there's no one you would feel confident getting behind...except Yates.
Why Yates Can Win La Vuelta 2018
Yates has been on a steady trajectory for a few years now. He took a gargantuan leap forward at the Giro and it proved just a bit too much.With the lessons learned and a lack of overwhelming favourites going into the Vuelta, Simon finds himself in a far less stressful scenario. He doesn't have to look ahead and plot which stages he can make up time to use as a buffer in the latter time trial. He can simply race, comfortable in the knowledge that in this Grand Tour at least, the best climber - not the climber with the best time trial - will win the race.
White signs off saying: "Simon's very ambitious, as we are as a team as well. The main thing for us is to learn from the mistakes in the Giro and apply those in the Vuelta. The Vuelta will be won or lost in the last 48 hours in Andorra and we're confident he can be in the mix."
"I'll come back stronger" - Simon Yates, 28 May 2018.
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