Simon Yates intent on continuing offensive at Gran Sasso d'Italia
Simon Yates knew it was unlikely to work, but that didn't mean he wasn't thinking about it. As his Mitchelton-Scott teammates laid down a brisk tempo on the ascent of Montevergine di Mercogliano on stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia, the maglia rosa periodically climbed out of the saddle and tilted his head to the side to peer through the rain at the terrain ahead.
The basilica of Montevergine marks the site of the hermitage established by Saint William of Vercelli in the 12th century, but the regular gradients of the category 2 ascent meant that Yates was never likely to be alone on the mountainside. Only stage winner Richard Carapaz (Movistar) escaped the clutches of the front group on the final approach to the summit, while Yates came home in 5th place, 7 seconds down, alongside all of his rivals for final overall victory.
"I thought about attacking, but I think it's very hard to make a difference on this climb," Yates said afterwards as he sheltered from the icy downpour in the television tent near the finish line. "I've watched the videos from past years they've been there, and there's never really a big selection, which you saw today as well. So maybe we'll try tomorrow."
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Yates holds a lead of 16 seconds over defending champion Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) and 26 over teammate Esteban Chaves ahead of the second, more demanding mountain stage of the weekend's doubleheader, which brings the gruppo above 2,000 metres with a finish at Gran Sasso d'Italia.
With a lengthy time trial still to come in Trento at the beginning of the third week, Yates is mindful that he needs to seize every available opportunity to augment his buffer over men like Dumoulin and Chris Froome (Team Sky), who survived a crash on Montevergine to remain 1:10 off the pink jersey.
Yates delivered a disarmingly crisp acceleration to put 26 seconds into Froome, Dumoulin et al in the space of just 1,500 metres on Thursday's summit finish at Mount Etna, and, on the evidence of that startling display, it would be a surprise if the Briton did not seek to test the waters from further out on the long haul to Gran Sasso d'Italia. Indeed, he effectively signalled his intentions to do so as reporters huddled around him after stage 8.
Froome and Dumoulin
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