After a late crash and subsequent splits had a big impact on the GC, stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia was a day of winners and losers, and Visma-Lease a Bike’s Simon Yates emerged as one of the winners.
Having made it into the right side of the splits after the crash at 23km, Yates finished in a group 48 seconds ahead of GC rivals, including Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), with other riders even further back.
That meant that the British rider moved into second overall, 1:20 down on leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who finished in the same group.
Yates managed to avoid the crash and its effects as he was well-placed in the Visma-Lease a Bike train, which had taken up the chase of the breakaway, aiming to win a sprint with Olav Kooij.
After the incident, and onto the Saver climb, Visma did not let up, which was partly responsible for why the gaps to the crashed riders went out so quickly, but they insisted this was motivated by trying to win the stage with Kooij, not trying to take time with Yates or take advantage of the crash.
“It was quite obvious that we were here to try and win the stage with Olav,” Van Aert told FloBikes at the finish, after clarifying that the team had already been on the offensive at the moment of the crash.
“We fought for it the whole day, we took control of the breakaway, and then in the final, we were there as a team to try and bring back this break. They played it really smart and accelerated pretty hard in the final. So we needed everyone to still close it, and yes, it’s true, when the crash happened, we kept on going because we still wanted to close the gap.”
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Many of the riders who took time in the group, including Del Toro, were clear that they didn’t revel in gaining an advantage like that. Despite a clear good result for Visma’s GC hopes with Yates, Van Aert expressed a similar sentiment.
“On any Grand Tour, you have days like this, and it’s a shame that there are differences on the GC because of this,” he said.
That said, when delving into the exact reasons for the crash, the Belgian pointed to the GC riders’ own actions as a possible explanation. The crash happened near the front of the peloton, on a cobbled corner, and even on a sprint stage, it’s normal to see GC teams right up front in the finale and up until the 3km to go point.
“It was for sure dangerous,” he said. “The wet circumstances made it more tricky, but nowadays there’s so much pressure in the bunch for the GC teams and they’re taking risks all the time, and I think that’s the reason why they crashed themselves today.”
Even if Visma were not deliberately trying to take advantage of the crash and the chaotic finale, the result at the end of the day is the same either way: Simon Yates’ already fairly smooth GC bid has taken another upwards step, and he’s gained time on some significant rivals.
“In the narrow streets of Nova Gorica, everyone wanted to be at the front. That ultimately caused the crash. It’s a real shame that had to happen. Simon is now second in the GC, but of course, that’s not the way we wanted it to happen. No one wants to see riders lose valuable seconds due to bad luck,” Visma-Lease a Bike DS Marc Reef said in a press release issued after the stage.
“Unfortunately, that’s part of cycling. Fortunately for us, we were in the right place this time. Now our focus shifts to tomorrow, where another important day for the general classification lies ahead.”
The fearsome third week is still looming, and there’s consensus in and around the race that the ‘real’ Giro only really starts on Tuesday, but Yates is in the second-best position, and is surely motivated to take time of his own accord come the mountains.
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