Giro d'Italia - Simon Yates: These were the hardest 15 kilometres of my life
May 20 2018 11:45 pm CET
Photo of Simon Yates by Mitchelton-Scott
Mitchelton-Scott's Simon Yates sits in first position of the General Classification, more than two minutes ahead of Tom Dumoulin, hoping that this will be enough for the victory.
Yates had the objective of taking as much time as possible on Dumoulin and he kept doing so by taking the victory at the 15th stage of the race. "I'm really happy, a bit emotional," commented Yates to Italian broadcaster RAI with tears in his eyes. "The guys were amazing, they really set me up for the final. If I had legs I had planned to attack and if not I was expecting some else to. I did as much as possible and yes, I'm really happy. I gave everything and I hope that it is enough."
"I know what is going to come and it's going to be a huge effort to try to win this race. I don't really know why I am so emotional, I really gave everything there on the stage today. Especially after yesterday being such a hard day and then today the same. They were probably the hardest 15 kilometres of my life. I really gave everything and we will see what happens after the TT."
Yates is now two minutes and 11 seconds ahead of Dumoulin but he doesn't think he can celebrate just yet. "He can also take two minutes from me in the TT in one day and in 35 kilometres," said the Briton. "It is not over but I'm very happy with what I did today and I will continue."
And when asked about his possibilities for the overall victory, the rider knows there are still some challenges lying ahead. "I feel like I have the form to win but a lot of things need to go correctly. The TT needs to be really good. There is a long way to go but I really hope so. I've been trying from the start to win here and we're getting closer but we still don't know."
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