Yates wins Giro d'Italia title for second Grand Tour victory
Cycling - Giro d'Italia - Stage 21 - Rome to Rome - Italy - June 1, 2025 Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Olav Kooij celebrates as he crossed the line to win the stage 21 REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
Cycling - Giro d'Italia - Stage 21 - Rome to Rome - Italy - June 1, 2025 Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Simon Yates celebrates after crossing the line to win the Giro d'Italia REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
ROME - Simon Yates of Visma-Lease a Bike won the 2025 Giro d'Italia on Sunday to claim his second Grand Tour victory, having effectively sealed the title a day earlier when he snatched the pink jersey from Isaac Del Toro.
Yates and other riders received blessings from Pope Leo at the Vatican before the Briton cruised to the finish in Rome on the final stage, which was won by teammate Olav Kooij in a sprint finish.
Yates, riding in all pink on a pink bike, also became the first rider since Alberto Contador in 2015 to win the Giro without claiming victory on any of the stages.
After riding 3,300 km through Italy, Albania and Slovenia, the final stage was a 143 km ride starting and finishing in Rome, including eight laps of a 9.5 km long circuit in the Eternal City.
As the riders cycled past Rome's landmarks like the Colosseum, a six-man breakaway went 24 seconds ahead of the pink jersey group with less than 50 km to go.
But by the time they had one lap left, four riders were dropped, with only Josef Cerny and Enzo Paleni left in the lead. Cerny then dropped Paleni to attempt a solo ride to the finish but he was quickly reeled in with six kilometres left.
Visma-Lease a Bike wanted the perfect finish and they executed it to perfection when Wout Van Aert led the sprint out on the final kilometre before Kooij surged ahead to take the victory, his second after winning stage 12.
Kooij finished ahead of Kaden Groves and Matteo Moschetti. REUTERS
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