Yates wins Giro d'Italia for second Grand Tour title
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. His victory added to his 2018 Vuelta a Espana title.
'Honestly, it's still sinking in. What a huge moment in my career... I couldn't be prouder of the whole team over three weeks,' said Yates, the Giro's 12th different winner in as many editions.
'It's been good that we had the possibility to win the last stage with Olav. So we kept focused till the end. It's a defining moment of my career, there's no doubt about that. It's a sweet success.'
Having raced for more than 82 hours, Yates eventually finished three minutes and 56 seconds ahead of Del Toro while Richard Carapaz was third, a further 47 seconds behind.
Yates, 32, famously lost the title in 2018 on the Colle delle Finestre climb but this year he closed that painful chapter on the same slopes by taking the pink jersey with Saturday's stunning attack in the mountains.
After a 3,300-km journey 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.
Pope's blessings
The riders also had time to meet Pope Leo, who was gifted a pink jersey before they left Vatican City and rode into Rome.
'I hope that, just as you have learned to take care of your bodies, you will also take care of your spirits,' the pope told the riders.
With the final stage underway, a relaxed Yates was all smiles as he cycled next to his twin brother Adam, putting his arm around the UAE Team Emirates rider.
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 with one lap left, only Josef Cerny and Enzo Paleni were 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.
'We couldn't wish for a better final weekend. Yesterday was really amazing for the team and today I just had to give everything that was left in the legs,' Kooij said after his victory sealed a third stage win for the team this year.
Kooij finished ahead of Kaden Groves and Matteo Moschetti as Visma-Lease a Bike became the first team in 26 years to win both the general classification and the final stage.
'When the ketchup bottle is almost empty... keep shaking, shaking, shaking,' Van Aert said. 'Then at some point everything comes out at once, that's what happened.'
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