Simon Yates remains wary of the threat of Tom Dumoulin but could not hide his emotions after his third stage win of the 2018 Giro d’Italia.
The 25-year-old from Bury became the first rider since 2003 to win three stages while wearing the maglia rosa as he attacked the peloton and stayed away on stage 15 from Tolmezzo to Sapada.
He crossed the line 41 seconds clear of a five-man bunch which included Dutchman Dumoulin, the defending champion and second in the general classification.
As a result Yates now leads the Dutchman by 2min 11sec ahead of the second rest day, and more importantly stage 16, which is a 35km time trial.
Dumoulin is the world time trial champion and will expect to close the gap on Yates on the stage that finishes in Rovereto.
And the Brit knows that even with a sizeable lead, he still has a lot of work to do to become the first British rider to win the Giro in the race’s 101st edition.
He said: “I’m a bit emotional after today. I really gave everything.
“It’s a good gap (over Dumoulin) but he could take two minutes out of me on the TT, on one stage so I’ve been fighting since Israel to have a good gap. I have a good gap, I’m happy with that gap but it could vanish in 35km.
“It was a bit of instinct (to attack when he did). When we came off the descent I thought there was a little gap to a few guys so I asked Jack (Haig) to push the pace.
“Then George (Bennett) attacked. It was very hard from the very bottom but I still felt good so I chose my moment to go. They responded the first time and then I gave everything the second time to get away and finally managed to get away.”
While it was a good day for Yates, Saturday’s stage winner Chris Froome appeared to pay for his efforts on the Monte Zoncolan.
He was one of the riders dropped when Yates attacked for the first time, and ended up coming home more than a minute and a half behind his compatriot, slipping to seventh in the general classification as a result.
Sportsbeat 2018