British rider Simon Yates cruised to overall victory in the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, finally winning the race that had eluded him so often.
After attacking on the gravel-road climb to take the pink jersey in the penultimate stage on Saturday, Yates finished nearly four minutes ahead of runner-up Isaac Del Toro, the 21-year-old Mexican who wore pink for 10 days before Yates took control.
It’s the second Grand Tour title for Yates after he won the Spanish Vuelta in 2018.
Ottawa’s Derek Gee, the lead rider for the Israel-Premier Tech team, was fourth overall to earn his best result at a Grand Tour. He was ninth in last year’s Tour de France.
Gee entered this year’s competition after becoming an overall multi-race stage champion for the first time in his career.
He captured the O Gran Camino road race in Spain on March 2 for the first overall stage race victory of his career, a 35-second edge over Italy’s Davide Piganzoli. Gee finished with three top-10 stage results, including a first, second and 10th. At the seven-stage Tirreno-Adriatico, he was fourth overall with two sixth-place results.
The 27-year-old last led a race at the Criterium du Dauphine last June in France, spending one day in the yellow jersey coincided with an individual time trial. He finished third overall.
At the Tour de France, Gee was ninth with four top-10 showings, including a third in Stage 9.
He went on to finish 44th in last summer’s Olympic road race in Paris and was the top Canadian in the individual time trial, placing 20th.
Tough luck in previous Giro races
Post-Olympics, Gee was 22nd in the individual time trial at the road world championships in Zurich. He did not finish the road race.
Meanwhile, Yates wore pink for 13 days during the 2018 Giro before cracking on one of the final climbs. He also had to withdraw from the Italian race in 2020 and 2022 because of coronavirus and a knee injury, respectively.
“I’m still in shock of what I’ve done,” Yates said from Rome. “It’s something that I’ve been working toward for a long time.”
Yates, who rides for Team Visma Lease a Bike, finished three minutes 56 seconds ahead of Del Toro and 4:43 ahead of Richard Carapaz, the 2019 champion from Ecuador. Gee, who was 11th in Sunday’s final stage, was 6:23 behind Yates.
Dutch rider Olav Kooij, Yates’ teammate, won the final stage in a sprint finish.
During the non-competitive neutralized period just before the mostly ceremonial final stage actually began, the peloton passed through the Vatican and was blessed by Pope Leo XIV.
The 143-kilometre final stage concluded with a circuit of eight laps through downtown Rome and finished next to the Circus Maximus.
At age 32, Yates already acknowledged this victory is “the peak” of his career. His best finish in the Tour de France was fourth in 2023.
