'Pazzesco! Incredible! Un Giro pazzo! - Crazy, incredible, what a crazy Giro!'
Cyclingnews heard those kinds of comments and many more from the crowds at the Sestriere finish as they watched Simon Yates power away on the Colle delle Finestre and then to the Alpine ski resort to set up victory in the 2025 Giro d'Italia.
The Briton and his Visma-Lease a Bike squad pulled off a smash and grab robbery in style as Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) looked at each other and threw away their own chances of victory.
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I've followed the Giro d'Italia for three decades but I've never witnessed anything like that. The Giro d'Italia is arguably the most unpredictable Grand Tour of all. But what happened on the Colle delle Finestre was incredible. Or as the Italians like to say with emotional emphasis and a sense of disbelief, Pazzesco!
Other riders have snatched victory late in the Corsa Rosa and there have been 16 race leader changes on the penultimate stage, but few times as dramatic as this year.
Chris Froome stormed into the maglia rosa in 2018 with a solo attack on the Colle delle Finestre just like Yates did this year. Indeed, for Yates, taking the maglia rosa was perfect redemption for him losing the 2018 Giro to Froome on the same climb.
Seeing Yates in tears as he rode across the finish line was intense and emotional. He really has closed the chapter and wiped away the pain from that terrible day.
Riding into Rome in the maglia rosa on Sunday will be a moment of happiness and pride. Yates has replaced the pain of defeat with emotions that he will remember for the rest of his life.
Visma-Lease a Bike can also celebrate after a tough twelve months of crashes, injuries and disappointment. They have won other Grand Tours but also lost them too, so they amply deserve to celebrate in Rome.
The wrong strategy?
Finishing on a Grand Tour podium is usually a moment of pride and celebration after three weeks of intense racing. But I suspect Del Toro and even Carapaz will not be smiling as they look out across ancient Rome on Sunday evening.
Both played high-stakes poker on the Colle delle Finestre but both lost, Del Toro arguably more than Carapaz. Both riders feared the other had a better hand, both thought that if they allowed their big rival to sit on, they would then attack them and win the Giro. In the end, Simon Yates called their bluff with his own display of aggressive racing. He was rewarded with victory.
If Del Toro and Carapaz had worked together on the Colle delle Finestre, instead of slowing the pace massively, they might well have kept Yates under control.
They were just 50 metres away from Yates at one point but once again, they looked at each other, likely followed team orders not to work together and so were defeated by Yates's courage. Wout Van Aert's superb Grand Tour riding and hard work in the valley road to Sestriere added an extra sense of pride and extended his teammate's Yates' lead on Del Toro and Carapaz to a massive 3:56 and 4:43 on GC. It was a simple but striking measure of their defeat.
UAE had bossed the Giro d'Italia from the start in Albania but suddenly they didn't seem confident they could control Carapaz after his aggressive early attacks on the Colle delle Finestre. It was a fatal moment of weakness and insecurity when bravery and guts were needed.
Del Toro and his directeur sportif in the team car perhaps hoped that by slowing the pace on the Colle delle Finestre, Rafał Majka and Brandon McNulty would be able to catch them in the valley road to Sestriere and help control any attacks. It proved to be a flawed and weak strategy. Del Toro should have taken a risk and kept Yates under control, then tried to respond or limit Carapaz's attacks.
Surely it was better to race and lose than not race at all and still lose?
Carapaz and EF Education-EasyPost lost out too. He won the 2019 Giro and already has three other Grand Tour podium places. Now he will have a fourth podium spot in Rome.
Carapaz could have chased Yates, even if Del Toro refused to help him. That would have exposed him to attacks from the Mexican but perhaps he could have matched them and even cracked Del Toro on the road to Sestriere. By riding defensively, Carapaz stopped Del Toro from winning the Giro but now he will never know if he could have won it himself.
Ultimately, Yated won and will celebrate in Rome, while Del Toro and Carapaz are left to blame each other. While they squabbled, Yates surged away and grabbed his chance of redemption.
Pazzesco!
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