Yesterday’s stage winner Simon Yates maintained his third place on the general classification, after a brutal final road stage of the Giro d’Italia.
Team BikeExchange took the race on as soon as the breakaway was established, with Michael Hepburn and Chris Juul-Jensen trading turns on the front to keep the gap in check ahead of the ascent of the Passo San Bernardino.
The stage then turned on its head as a select group containing Romain Bardet and second placed Damiano Caruso went clear on the descent of the climb. The attackers quickly swept passed the early breakaway and held their advantage at 40 seconds over the second climb of the day.
Meanwhile, Yates remained calm in the Maglia Rosa group, which was down to just a handful of riders as the race reached the foot of the final climb. Dani Martinez set a blistering tempo for his teammate, race leader Egan Bernal, on the slopes and it eventually proved too much for Yates as he was distanced inside the final two kilometres.
Out front, Caruso held onto to take the stage win and consolidate his second place in the standings, while Yates battled home in sixth place to head into tomorrow’s final stage time trial in Milan in third overall.
Simon Yates:
“We tried to do something again, the boys did a fantastic job again, as always. The plan was to try something on the second to last climb, but we arrived there and I didn’t have the legs, a bit of fatigue from yesterday maybe, a bit of fatigue from three weeks all coming together.
But as always, I did the best as I could and I’m happy with what I did and we finish off with the TT tomorrow. We’re staying focused, it’s only one more day and then we can celebrate a nice podium in Milan.”
Matt White (Head Sport Director):
“We wanted to give Yatesy one more chance at winning a stage, one more chance at moving up the general classification, so we took control of the race and it was all going really good.
In the end Yatesy just didn’t have the legs on the final climb to go with Martinez and Bernal.
It was 100% effort from all the boys and we can ask no more.”
2021 Giro d’Italia stage 20 results:
- Damiano Caruso 4:27:53
- Egan Bernal +0:24
- Dani Martinez +0:35
- Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) +0:51
General Classification after stage 20:
- Egan Bernal 85:41:47
- Damiano Caruso +1:59
- Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) +3:23
