Simon Yates has been in imperious form on the Giro Italia climbs and now he has backed it up with a commendable display in the time trial to make himself outright favourite for the title.
The 25-year-old Mitchelton-Scott cyclist powered his way to 22nd in the 34.2km course to tighten his grip on the crown, despite his overall lead being cut to 56 seconds.
Yates’ monumental efforts over the 16 stages so far have earned him well-deserved praise from all sides, but there was concern Tuesday’s time trial would impact severely in the two minute and 11-second lead he had built up.
However, despite the shorter course not being his strongest discipline, he crossed in 22nd place, just 75 seconds behind nearest rival, world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin – who finished third on the day. Australian Rohan Dennis claimed the stage win.
And for Yates, the objective was losing as little time as possible to Dutchman Dumoulin and he admitted he burst through the pain barrier several times over as he tenaciously dug in to protect his advantage.
“I’m really happy. The first half I felt good, I had a good rhythm and I felt like I was going well,” said the Bury rider, who will see mountain stages on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as chances to further cement top spot.
“I wasn’t losing so much time and I was really trying to hold my position, but then in the final 10k I really died a thousand deaths.
“I thought I would lose a lot more, but I managed to hold on so I’m really happy.”
As well as donning the maglia rosa once again, Yates remains on track to become the first Briton ever to lift the Giro d’Italia title.
Dumoulin is 56 seconds adrift, but Italian Domenico Pozzovivo is a fair distance behind in third, three minutes and 11 seconds shy of Yates’ overall time of 66 hours, 39 minutes and 14 seconds.
Yates admitted Tuesday’s performance alters the way he will approach the closing five stages of the competition after stamping his authority on the field.
“It really changes my tactics for the coming days, I think unfortunately for the fans I can be a lot more defensive,” he added.
“I have a much bigger gap to the guys behind me, just not Tom as he’s only a minute, but the guys behind him that’s quite a lot.
“It’s a good gap and I’ll see what I can do.”
Sportsbeat 2018