With 18 kilometers to go on the Colle delle Finestre, Simon Yates wasn’t in the picture to win the Giro d’Italia.
Literally, Yates wasn’t even in the camera shot as Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz went up the road. EF Education-EasyPost had blown the peloton apart on the first few kilometers of the climb, and the maglia rosa was forced to close a threatening gap to Carapaz.
Some 40 kilometers later at the finish line in Sestriere, Yates was 5 minutes and 13 seconds ahead of Del Toro and Carapaz, more than enough to win his first maglia rosa.
What the … just happened?
At the beginning of Stage 20 of the Giro d’Italia, Del Toro led Carapaz by 43 seconds and Simon Yates by 1 minute and 21 seconds in the general classification. The word from UAE Team Emirates-XRG to Del Toro was to follow Carapaz. The Ecuadorian was the biggest threat, so you need to watch out for him. It isn’t clear if Yates was mentioned, and if so, to what extent.
Also read: How the ‘queen stage’ split the Giro d’Italia wide open
After the stage, directors from UAE Team Emirates-XRG admitted they only told Del Toro once during the Finestre that he needed to chase Yates because he was stealing the maglia rosa. From that point on, it was up to the 21 year-old Mexican.
The Colle delle Finestre had been feared for weeks. It was the hardest climb in this year’s Giro, by far.
The full climb stretches 18.4 km with an average gradient of 9.2%, including the second half of the climb on gravel.
The Cima Coppi was at the top of the Finestre, but not the finish line. That came 28 km later after the Cat. 3 16.3 km climb to Sestriere. With a total length of 205.3 km, it was a daunting stage, to say the least. But if Del Toro could limit his losses, he would win the Giro.
Setting the trap
The maglia rosa’s demise began during the breakaway formation thanks to one rider.
Wout van Aert made it into the break, creating a key ally for Yates in the later parts of the stage. UAE Team Emirates-XRG did not have any riders in the break, and they chose to let the gap explode to well over 10 minutes. In fact, it was other teams, such as EF Education-EasyPost, who began pulling on the front of the peloton.
For the first 160 km of the stage, the breakaway and peloton rolled along at more than 45 kph.
Derek Gee, sitting 4th in GC at the start of the stage, posted his Stage 20 file on Strava. With an average power of 227w (3.2w/kg) for the first four hours of the stage, we can see that it was quite a relaxed ride to the bottom of the Finestre.
We expected a GC fight into the bottom of the Finestre, but no one expected the 8w/kg leadout train of EF Education-EasyPost. The Finestre is an hour-long climb for the fastest riders in the race. That is a ridiculous effort, even by pro cycling standards. Pacing is critical (well, it used to be) during these efforts, especially when the climb tops out above 2,100 meters.
EF Education-EasyPost tore up the pacing playbook when they attacked into the bottom of the Finestre, launching Carapaz into orbit with 17 km of climbing to go. It is difficult to understate the absurdity of this attack.
At the bottom of a one-hour long, Carapaz and Del Toro rode at over 7.5w/kg for the first five minutes. Gee pushed 500w for the first 4min of the climb, and he was so far behind that you couldn’t even see him in the camera shot.
Gee: First 1.5km of the Finestre
Time: 4:22
Average Power: 494w (7.1w/kg)
Carapaz and Del Toro: ~4:05 at 7.5-7.9w/kg
When the pace finally settled, you could see the second group forming behind Del Toro and Carapaz. Yates and Gee were the strongest riders pulling, and it wasn’t long before they dropped the rest of the group. After Yates attacked across the gap, Gee and his diesel engine motored across to the trio.
It wasn’t long before Yates attacked, but it was Carapaz who quickly closed the gap. This became a pattern over the next few kilometers: Yates attacks, Carapaz sprints to follow his wheel, Del Toro closes the gap at a slower pace, and Gee maintains his tempo until he catches up with the group.
The relentless attacks began to take a toll on Del Toro and Carapaz. They seemed to be closing the gaps a bit slower each time, and then, Yates attacked again. This time, Carapaz got within a few bike lengths, but then he sat down. He couldn’t close the gap, Yates was still accelerating, and Del Toro was cooked. The gap began to widen, and soon, Yates was out of sight.
In the first part of the climb, we can see that Gee had a ridiculous average of 435w (6.2w/kg) at 1,765 Vm/h. Yates was over a minute ahead of this trio by the time they reached the gravel portion of Finestre. This is a crazy climbing performance on its own, but the riders still had 8 km to go on the climb.
Gee: First 8.4km of the Finestre
Time: 27:22
Average Power: 435w (6.2w/kg)
Yates: ~26:20 at 6.5w/kg
In the second half of the Finestre, gaps began to grow. Yates extended his lead over Del Toro and Carapaz, while Gee began to crumble. The Canadian lost more than 50w as the elevation ticked past 2000 meters. Yates was still ascending at nearly 1,700 Vm/h while the maglia rosa was bleeding time.
There were plenty of questionable calls made throughout the Giro, but it was clear that Del Toro had the legs to win. He followed Carapaz at more than 7w/kg at the bottom of Finestre, and he continued to follow the Ecuadorian’s attacks in the final few kilometers of the climb. The legs were there, but the tactics were not.
One of the rides of his life
Wout van Aert produced a “one-hour career-best performance” on the Colle delle Finestre on Stage 20 of the Giro d’Italia, according to Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s Head of Performance, Mathieu Heijboer. pic.twitter.com/y8oIuy7IiV
— Velon CC (@VelonCC) June 5, 2025
When Yates caught his teammate, Van Aert, the Giro was over. The Belgian pulled at more than 450w on the road to Sestriere, setting up Yates for an epic victory and mammoth GC gap. Del Toro and Carapaz stopped pulling after the Finestre, refusing to ride with each other while Yates rode away to win the Giro.
The ascent of Colle delle Finestre was arguably the best climbing performance of Simon Yates’ career. Pacing himself at the bottom was the correct choice, as Del Toro and Carapaz wasted bullets shooting at the wrong man.
By the time Yates caught up to the maglia rosa, the damage was done. Del Toro prefers a steady pace. Sure, he can follow explosive attacks, but that is not the fastest-pacing strategy for his legs on an hour-long climb. Nevertheless, Del Toro did a fantastic climbing performance as well, pushing nearly 6w/kg for an hour, including >7.5w/kg for five minutes to start the climb.
Gee: Colle delle Finestre
Time: 1:02:04
Average Power: 407w (5.8w/kg)
Yates: 59:25 at ~6.2w/kg
Carapaz and Del Toro: 1:01:04 at 5.95w/kg
It goes without saying that Del Toro has a bright future. Few riders can push these kinds of numbers in the third week of a grand tour. Plus, we must factor in the pressure of the leader’s jersey, and the second-place rider in GC attacking you every chance that he gets.
You could say that UAE Team Emirates-XRG offered Del Toro some support, but there were also plenty of instances where they did the opposite.
In the end, nothing can take away from Yates conquering the climb that was once his downfall and turning the tables to win the Giro d’Italia in the most spectacular way possible.
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Power Analysis data courtesy of Strava
Strava sauce extension
Riders:
Derek Gee