Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia 2025 stage 20: Verrès – Sestrière, 205 km

[movingtarget]

Great win by Harper. Tremendous turnaround by Yates after the past few stages. Couldn't have worked out any better with WVA up the road. His lead doubled in no time after WVA took over the pacing. Yates ride will be a huge motivator for Visma going into the Tour. Bizarre rides by Carapaz and Del Toro, neither was prepared to assist the other in winning so they accepted losing. Maybe the weakest defense of a pink jersey I have seen for a long time, not that I mind seeing UAE lose a grand tour but Del Toro went out with a whimper. Seeing him move to the back of the chase group with quite a way to go was just weird.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Not 45+, but in the beginning Yates quickly had a gap of about 20-25 seconds, and they reduced it to maybe 10 seconds quite quickly. I am pretty sure they could've caught him at that point if not starting playing games again.

They got even closer than that. I think they got to 7 seconds and were just in touching distance on a switchback. If they kept the pressure on and latched back on, the entire stage might have changed.

 

[Escarabajo]

Del Toro seems relatively happy still, as he should be. Top result and a bright future.

All I see is an immature kid with idiots as coaches. That sprint and celebration is just pathetic.
After watching such a good race from him all Giro we get this from him. This is beyond embarrassing.

 

[Red Rick]

I saw several posts complaining of too few climbs before Finestre

Not me though. I'm not a super big believer in "more fatigue before is always better.

In fact I think Carapaz' suicidal start is a big contributor to what unfolded today.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Is that a wrestling reference?

It was never my thing but the name Bret Hart rings a bell.

Bret "the Hitman" Hart, a wrestling legend.

 

[noob]

Ok, I realize this is the stage I will have to rewatch to understand.

 

[dobrien]

It is a beautiful story for Yates.

Redemption of the most poetic kind; not often does the chance come for something like this and he seized the day by the throat. Chapeau.

 

[nightowl]

2024 Tour de France Femmes for sure. Worst I've ever seen. Crash your own team leader out while she's supposed to be leading out a sprint, then let the sprinter - who crashed her out - ride off saying "I saw something yellow on the floor" for the glory of 8th place in the stage while abandoning the maillot jaune, then have the only rider who drops back to her contribute to the leadout first so she's toasted by the time the maillot jaune catches her... then offer zero support in the mountains and lose the GC by four seconds.

I think we should disqualify that as a blunder because her team were actively trying to make her lose rather than just be incompetent

 

[Ripper]

Double disagree!! Seeing flat out racing, Del Toro and Carapaz working together to either bring him back or blow trying, would have been vastly better than this. I can find no humor in it; it's not a dénouement worthy of the stage imho.

Well Carapaz did nearly blow entirely near the end of the Finestre riding his tail off to drop del Toro and catch Yates. When he clearly was doing neither, and nearly took himself out, that's when he just sat on del Toro's wheel. So you saw flat out racing from one of the two until he had nothing left. It is just that happened before the final climb

 

[Boehmand]

I saw several posts complaining of too few climbs before Finestre

We all struggle with self-awareness at times

 

[Swiss Tony]

Tears in the studio and tears in my lounge chapeau black pudding 🥂🍾

 

[Samu Cuenca]

While we can criticise some of the actions from Carapaz, this stage wouldn't have exploded like this if it hadn't been for EF nuking it from the bottom of Finestre. I assume it was so powerful that it made the TV in the UAE car switch to a cooking show or something.

 

[kingjr]

They got even closer than that. I think they got to 7 seconds and were just in touching distance on a switchback. If they kept the pressure on and latched back on, the entire stage might have changed.

You say that as if it's easy to "keep the pressure on"

 

[Ripper]

Del Toro thinking it looks cool to win that sprint easily. It really just looks only more pathetic.

It was a bit weird. Some riders get a bit macho at the finish line, even if it is for no apparent benefit.

 

[Boehmand]

Bret "the Hitman" Hart, a wrestling legend.

Ok, but I honestly have no idea what the reference means

 

[Tim Cahill]

That's kind of like the time the time Bret Hart declared El Dandy to be his biggest rival for the world title.

Jonathan Vaughters, he's a high-flyer of the highest magnitude

 

[Red Rick]

"He's a strong rider but not very intellegent." That's what Carapaz said about del Toro?

Pretty sure Del Toro said at some point earlier this Giro about himself that he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

 

[Red Rick]

It was a bit weird. Some riders get a bit macho at the finish line, even if it is for no apparent benefit.

I woudl consider fake dying in the last km tbh.

 

[noob]

"He's a strong rider but not very intellegent." That's what Carapaz said about del Toro?

Wait, is this real?

 

[Leinster]

Carapaz couldn't drop Toro, how can he win again?

He couldn’t drop him on the Fenestre, but if they’d kept Yates within 10-20s and close enough to bridge then other options come into play.

I think especially given how fresh Del Toro seemed getting across the line that MOST of the blame probably falls to UAE, but to give Carapaz a pass on it is letting him off easy. IMHO.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

What a brilliant ride from Yates. I got the sense from Del Toro's demeanor that he wasn't confident in himself and perhaps thought he'd crack at any moment. Seems he was satisfied with a podium, and his riding reflected it. Yates, on the other hand, rode for the win. Wonderful race.

 

[Red Rick]

19	VENDRAME Andrea	Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team				9:06
20	YATES Adam	UAE Team Emirates - XRG				,,

Adam hearing Simon was winning the Giro and deciding he wasn't gonna drop 45 minutes after all and he wanted to enjoy the atmosphere in the bus sooner.

 

[Brullnux]

Yates seems totally nonplussed. I wonder if this is just how UAE feels? Or just Adam?

 

[Fantastico]

Yeah with a big effort, not so easy sustaining that. Yates was just the strongest climber today.

That's true, Yates might have been the best climber today no matter what, and he definitely paced himself the best. But I don't think he was levels above the others.

 

[kingjr]

Great win by Harper. Tremendous turnaround by Yates after the past few stages. Couldn't have worked out any better with WVA up the road. His lead doubled in no time after WVA took over the pacing. Yates ride will be a huge motivator for Visma going into the Tour. Bizarre rides by Carapaz and Del Toro, neither was prepared to assist the other in winning so they accepted losing. Maybe the weakest defense of a pink jersey I have seen for a long time, not that I mind seeing UAE lose a grand tour but Del Toro went out with a whimper. Seeing him move to the back of the chase group with quite a way to go was just weird.

If he does all the work after the descent he possibly gets countered by Carapaz in the end and loses 2nd place as well. It's not a good look, but I don't think it affected the result. Yates was the strongest on the climb and he had van Aert to help him after, I think he wins this no matter what.