Simon Yates and Visma-Lease a Bike turned the Giro d’Italia on its head with an ambush Saturday in one of the best tactical GC reversals in Giro history.
Overnight leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) were left shell-shocked at the finish line, with frustration swelling and emotions flying as they tried to make sense of what just hit them.
A string of perfectly timed attacks from Yates and well-played tactics involving Wout van Aert left Del Toro and Carapaz caught in a GC death trap that Visma exploited to maximum effect.
The ambush on the Finestre echoed the 2022 Tour de France coup on the Col du Galibier, where the yellow jackets cracked Tadej Pogačar with a perfectly executed high-mountain offensive that opened the door for Jonas Vingegaard’s first yellow jersey.
Though contested in wildly different circumstances Saturday, the Killer Bees proved yet again they can play devastating tactics better than any team in the peloton.
Yates — who seemingly didn’t have the legs to attack the leading GC riders once in this Giro — suddenly rode everyone off his wheel on the Giro’s hardest and most decisive moment.
Van Aert, who infiltrated the day’s breakaway, would help drive the definitive wedge between Yates and the GC rivals to steal away pink in what will go down as one of the Giro’s wildest GC reversals.
There were a lot of moving parts. Here’s how the Giro coup unfolded, told by the protagonists who lived it:
The road to the Finestre: Everything on the line
Many expected a powder keg Saturday up and over the gravel steeps up the Finestre climb, but it was meant to be a mano-a-mano duel between Del Toro and second-place Carapaz, who started at just 43 seconds in arrears.
Yates, who so far in this Giro hadn’t truly been able to attack and gap anyone, lost time Friday and started third in a relatively distant 1:21 back.
For Yates, this was more than a last-chance saloon. It was also about settling the score on the Colle delle Finestre, where he suffered his infamous collapse in 2018 to lose the Giro to the attacking Chris Froome:
YATES: “Once the route and the parcours were released, I always had in the back of my mind that maybe I could come here [to the Colle delle Finestre] and close the chapter. Maybe not to take the jersey in the race, but at least the stage or something. To try to show myself the way I know I can do. I’ve been feeling good all race, but I needed to believe in myself.”
Sir Simon Yates.
What a day, what a Giro, what a team… pic.twitter.com/gKoMaxkfF6
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) May 31, 2025
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After the start in Verrès, a large break — featuring the menacing presence of Van Aert — carved out a decisive lead.
By the time they hit the lower slopes of the Finestre, just over 40km from the line, Van Aert was perfectly positioned. Crucially, neither EF nor UAE had anyone up the road.
As the GC contenders approached the base of the climb, the fuse was lit, but no one knew who was going to blow up.
UAE general manager Joxean Fernández Matxín said the team missed a chance to slot a rider into the break
FERNÁNDEZ MATXÍN: “We did have someone in the break almost every day. We understood that [Saturday] we had to set a steady pace,” he told El Maillot. “EF made the first kilometers very explosive, we managed to be with the best, with Adam, Brandon, and Rafa. But in the moment that the race exploded it was practically a one-on-one of the three best riders who have been in this Giro d’Italia and that was the course of the race.”
Yates races for redemption on the Finestre
As the GC group hit the base of the Finestre, Yates had every reason to feel apprehensive.
It was here in 2018 that Froome and Team Sky detonated the race with a now-legendary solo raid — a move many point to as the origin point of today’s carbo-fueled racing, with Froome hammering feeds before, during, and after the climb to drop Yates and snatch away the maglia rosa.
Yates would bounce back to win the Vuelta later that year, but the scars from Finestre ran deep.
Saturday’s return didn’t start well. EF Education-EasyPost pounced early, shredding the GC group and putting Yates under immediate pressure. He was briefly distanced, and it looked like déjà vu.
But this time, he didn’t fold.
“What a story you are writing” @vismaleaseabike Sports Director Marc Reef coordinates a tactical masterpiece as Simon Yates storms into the Maglia Rosa with the help of Wout Van Aert on @giroditalia Stage 20.
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#GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/ddFIAJgkeq— Velon CC (@VelonCC) May 31, 2025
Yates launched a searing counter. While Del Toro and Carapaz eyed each other, he blew straight past them. In a flash, he opened up a 40-second lead and was uncorking the most dramatic ride of his career.
YATES: “I felt amazing today. I hadn’t really shown what I was capable of in this Giro yet, but today everything clicked. I had some unfinished business here. I wanted to show what I was worth, no matter the result. I have to thank the guys from the team because they believed in me. Even during the stage they said just believe in yourself, just give it a try, and that’s what I did in the end.”
The dynamic was set. Yates was unshackled and rode into the virtual pink jersey as he tapped away up the gravel sectors toward the summit. Van Aert was still up the road. Behind him, the Giro was exploding.
Del Toro and Carapaz caught in costly standoff
Behind the fireworks up front, Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz were sinking into a classic two-rider faceoff with everything to lose.
If either chased, he’d risk dragging the other to pink. If neither did, they’d both hand the Giro to Yates.
It was a stalemate that will boggle for ages and one that Visma pressed to their advantage.
DEL TORO: “When Simon started to go, he was third. Richard was second, he needs to follow him. I think it is more about the pressure, putting one against the other. I thought it was OK, I had one minute 20 on Simon, I can let him go.”
Carapaz, still stinging from having his last two attacks shadowed and countered by Del Toro on stages 17 and 19, clearly wasn’t in the mood to do his young rival any favors.
Carapaz played poker. Del Toro didn’t pull. Or couldn’t.
Carapaz and del Toro after the finish #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/1CPJRyBAS2
— Cycling Memes (@Cycling_Memes1) May 31, 2025
FERNÁNDEZ MATXÍN: “Isaac told us that there was a moment that if Carapaz hadn’t slowed he would have thrown in the towel, that he was on his limit. These are the sensations that a rider has at the moment and all you can do is support them, back them, in these complicated moments, which is to lose a Giro d’Italia.”
Also read: UAE out to prove it can win a grand tour without Pogačar
Derek Gee (Israel Premier Tech), still grinding with the GC group, watched it all from behind and could only limit the losses.
GEE: “I didn’t really have the energy to think about what Del Toro and Carapaz were doing. I just did my own ride. It would have been suicide for me to try and go with those guys. With the kind of kick they have and their ability to recover from it, I would have been gone really, really quick.”
With the pink jersey slipping away, Del Toro came up alongside Carapaz. The pair shared words, and we only have his version of events, but Carapaz refused to pull.
DEL TORO: “At the end it is better for Richard and me to work together when it is 1 minute 20. I talked with him, saying now is the moment. If you want to help, it is OK. But also I don’t work alone and then on the last climb you can come and just pass me. It is 40 seconds [the difference between them], almost nothing. He just said, ‘not now, because you didn’t help me when we were at 20 seconds.’ And I said OK, if I lose the GC, I don’t lose the second place.”
The Giro was slipping away, and neither one was willing — or able — to stop it.
Down the Finestre on the ‘Wout Express’
Up the road, Van Aert was waiting, locked, loaded, and ready to deploy the final phase of Visma’s coup.
The Belgian superstar had been through the wringer over the past year: two brutal crashes in 2024 and a winless classics campaign that triggered the peanut gallery. This Giro was vindication, with Van Aert winning a stage in the Strade Bianche-inspired stage ahead of Del Toro.
On Saturday, he would prove race-maker yet again to confirm his place as one of the peloton’s best all-round riders.
As Yates crested the Finestre and began the descent, he linked up with Van Aert. From there, it was full gas, and the Belgian pounded the pedals through the valley to the base of the Cat. 3 climb to Sestrière. Yates’s virtual lead ballooned with every turn of the crank.
Also read: What’s wrong with Wout? Or are we asking the wrong question?
Another Visma-Lease a Bike masterclass was unfolding, with sports director Mark Reef calling the shots from the car.
MARK REEF: “Of course we were secretly hoping for this scenario, but we never expected it to play out this perfectly. Carapaz and Del Toro were watching each other, and Simon attacked at exactly the right moment. The plan we laid out was executed down to the finest detail. Wout’s work was also instrumental today.”
So much happened today, but this has to be one of biggest highlights of the day… Wout van Aert almost fell off the bike after finishing the pull for the Giro winner Simon Yates.
: Adam Blythe #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/ImLoF94ZgS
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) May 31, 2025
Behind them, panic was setting in. Del Toro and Carapaz were riding, but still not going all-in. The hesitation that had cost them on the Finestre was ballooning in the valley.
Carapaz, still hoping Del Toro would crack under pressure, appeared to be waiting him out. Del Toro, again recounting the interaction, said the standoff turned into a GC track-stand.
DEL TORO: “When we have two minutes at the top or something like this, then for sure I started to make the descent. I did a little bit of the valley but when I tried to change with him [to work with Carapaz], he just said no. Then I said OK, but I cannot put you at one minute to Simon and then you attack me and you win the Giro. It was like this. Visma played it well. We tried to as well and that’s it. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.”
Job done, Van Aert sat up and soft-pedaled to the line as Yates piled on.
VAN AERT: “This is incredible. It is such a brave effort of Simon to go all in from so far. I love it when people are not racing for a place of honor, so chapeau to him. Once I was in this breakaway we had such an advantage that I knew I had a small chance to make it over the Finestre. Of course, I am happy that I was valuable, but it is an effort of the whole team, of course.”
Tears and frustration at the line
Yates barreled across the line third behind stage-winner Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla), who also exorcized his demons with a cathartic victory.
The Brit took back over five minutes on his rivals and rolled into Sunday’s finale pink jersey with a commanding 3:56 lead over Del Toro. Yates, typically reserved and business-like in his public comments, broke down in tears at the enormity of his achievement.
YATES: “This makes up for a lot. There have been plenty of setbacks leading up to this. Every season I keep giving everything I have. Winning the Giro would be a great reward for all the hard work over the past few years. I also need to thank my teammates. In the tough moments of the past three weeks, they always stood by me. This one’s for them.”
Back down the road, it was the complete opposite. Some suggested it was some sort of Latin American lockdown, and Del Toro and Carapaz were left pointing the finger at each other.
CARAPAZ: “Del Toro lost the Giro, he didn’t know how to race well. We could have been the strongest, but the smartest won. Yates and his team did what they needed to do. We didn’t.”
DEL TORO: “Yates was the most intelligent. Chapeau to Visma because they played super good. Also with Van Aert in the front, for sure they raised the gap super quickly in the valley. It was good for his team and how they played the tactics.”
Geraint Thomas: “Do you need experience to know that third place is riding away from you and if you stop pedaling, he is going to gain time? Mate, my son Macs would know that, he is 5 years old.”
: cyclingweeklymagazine #GirodItalia pic.twitter.com/pvhASuifki
— Lukáš Ronald Lukács (@lucasaganronald) June 1, 2025
Many will leave this Giro wondering what would have happened if Del Toro and Carapaz had committed to working together earlier. But neither would take the full risk. Del Toro wouldn’t gamble second place by launching alone. Carapaz wouldn’t sacrifice himself to perhaps come away with nothing.
In the end, they both hesitated. And Yates — with diamonds in his legs — took it all.
Del Toro, at just 21, was perhaps caught out by inexperience and was unable to make the kind of cold-blooded decision to risk all for the win. UAE’s Joxean Fernández Matxín downplayed the sting of defeat.
FERNÁNDEZ MATXÍN: “It was a climb marked by a lot of stops and starts, and in the end, Isaac couldn’t do more. By the final part of the climb he felt a bit better but by then it was too late,” he told El Maillot. “For a rider of 21 years old, it’s experience, it’s lessons learned, but to lose a Giro d’Italia is hard. It happened the opposite for us in 2020 at the Tour de France (with Pogačar beating Roglič), we know the circumstances for better or for worse. At 21, he has everything in front of him. When you have a pink jersey so close to you, you will be disappointed. When you’re so close to winning pink, the white jersey is not enough.”
It was a gutting loss for UAE, which came to the Giro with perhaps the deepest team in the race, and the clear goal of proving it could win without Pogačar.
For Yates and Visma-Lease a Bike, it was overdue redemption.
Yates, now 32, who switched to Visma last winter from the Jayco-AlUla team, hadn’t won a grand tour since the 2018 Vuelta.
And even more so for Visma, a proud team racked by injuries and bad luck — not to mention an unstoppable Pogačar — over the past few seasons.
REEF: “This is a fantastic result for the team. Simon has ridden a smart race, and today he showed just how strong he really is.”
Superb teamwork from Wout
Van Aert played a key role in Simon Yates opening up a race-winning gap over his Giro GGC rivals with this huge pull on Stage 20:
⏱️ Time: 12’56”
Avg speed: 43.7km/h
️ Max speed. 54.0km/h
Avg power: 450w
⚡️ Max power: 640wSprint Cycling pic.twitter.com/zI2mb3ldzc
— Velon CC (@VelonCC) June 1, 2025