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• BBC
• Sun Jun 1 2025

Simon Yates loves the Giro d'Italia but he could have been forgiven for hating it.

Even in a sport synonymous with suffering, this Grand Tour has inflicted unusual punishment on Yates over the years.

The British rider looked set to win at his first attempt in 2018, only to dramatically crack two days from Rome.

Illness, injury and indifferent form plagued his attempts over the next four years.

He returned for this edition, after two years away, a contender, but not widely considered one of the pre-race favourites.

Perhaps absence made his heart grow fonder; the Englishman's determination to conquer this beautiful yet brutal race steelier.

After quietly keeping himself in contention, Yates' audacious attack on stage 20 saw him seize the maglia rosa - the leader's jersey - for the first time since that 2018 collapse.

On Sunday in Rome, he rolled across the line in pink, sealing his second Grand Tour title after the 2018 Vuelta a Espana.

Yates' tumultuous love affair with the Giro has its happy ending.