Simon Yates wins stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia with late attack

Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) won the sixth Giro d'Italia stage of his career with a late attack on stage 14 in Turin.

The British rider, who saw his GC hopes dashed earlier in the race due to injury, pounced inside the final five kilometres to take victory.

It's Yates' second victory at this year's Giro following his individual time-trial win on stage two in Budapest.

Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe) beat Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) to second place on the stage with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan Team) finishing in the same group.

Carapaz will take the Maglia Rosa from Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo) after the 24-year-old was unable to cope with the high pace set on the gruelling hills around Turin.

HOW IT HAPPENED

A 147km stage with over 3,000m of climbing around the hills of Turin was bound to make for a hectic day at the Giro d’Italia. 

Leaving Santena, the riders faced a handful of small climbs before beginning two laps of a hilly circuit around Turin. 

Two ascents of both the Superga and the Colle della Maddalena climbs would help to truly sap the energy from their legs before a descent-filled final 15km back to the finish line in Turin. 

After the efforts exerted to catch the breakaway on yesterday’s stage into Cuneo, the peloton would’ve hoped for a straightforward and simple start to stage 14.

It was anything but that on the shortest day of this year’s Giro d’Italia. 

Given the classics-style terrain of the stage, the break was hotly contested. 

The likes of Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) and Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) all tried to escape up the road, causing temporary splits in the bunch behind.

However, by the time Il Pilonetto - the first categorised climb of the day - was reached after 40km of racing, there was still no definitive breakaway.

Diego Rosa (EOLO-Kometa) summitted the climb first to extend his lead in the Maglia Azzurra.

The Italian climber, alongside 11 other riders, managed to create a substantial gap over the peloton.

Alonside Rosa, the breakaway included: Nans Peters (AG2R Citroën Team), Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix), Joe Dombrowski (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Filippo Zana (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè), Ben Zwiehoff (BORA-hansgrohe), Diego Camargo (EF Education-EasyPost), Ignatas Konovalovas (Groupama-FDJ), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Soudal), Iván Sosa (Movistar), James Knox (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) and Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates). 

Yet with around 75km to go, Bora-hansgrohe set the race alight. 

Not keen to let the break ride off down the road, they set a ferocious pace in the peloton and dropped large swathes of the bunch in the process.

The German team were in full attack mode, ripping the race apart as they reached the start of the first of two circuits around Turin.

When the Superga climb was tackled for the first time, just 12 riders remained in a decimated peloton.

The Maglia Rosa, Juan Pedro López made the split and was joined by a host of strong riders including Richard Carapaz , João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Mikel Landa, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Domenico Pozzovivo, Jan Hirt (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Vincenzo Nibali and Simon Yates.

Bora-hansgrohe had the numerical advantage though, with Wilco Kelderman working in support of his co-leaders Jai Hindley and Emanuel Buchmann.

It took until the second ascent of the Superga, with just over 30km to go, for this group of favourites to be whittled down again.

With 28km remaining and the summit of the Superga in sight, Carapaz attacked with no one able to respond.

As the Ecuadorian stormed away, the only man in front of him in the overall standings, López, was dropped from the chasing group. 

Carapaz held a lead of 20 seconds as he began the short descent from the Superga summit. 

With 15km left though, Hindley and Nibali attacked from the chasing group as they took on the Colle della Maddalena.

The duo bridged over to the Olympic champion, dragging themselves up the 3.6km climb that had ramps touching 20%.

The trio were soon joined by Simon Yates as the climb plateaued.

The Bury-born rider is no longer a threat in the GC standings, and he used this to his advantage as the quartet reached the final climb of the day at the Parco del Nobile.

Yates attacked over the short un-categorised climb and rapidly built up a gap of 20 seconds.

More focused on their GC objectives, the chasing trio kept the pace high into the finish in Turin but Yates crossed the line with a 15 second advantage to secure his second stage win of this year’s Giro.

Carapaz now finds himself seven seconds ahead of Hindley in the overall standings, with López, after a remarkable 10 days in pink, finishing over four minutes back and dropping to ninth in the GC. 

Results

GIRO D’ITALIA 2022, STAGE 14: SANTENA TO TURIN (147KM)

1. Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange-Jayco, in 3-43-44
2.Jai Hindley (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 15s
3.Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers,
4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan Team, at same time
5. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, at 28s
6. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 39s
7. Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious, at 51s
8. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious, at same time
9. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-10
10. Juan Pedro López (Esp) Trek-Segafredo, at 4-25

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 14

1. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, in 58-21-28
2. Jai Hindley (Aus) BORA-hansgrohe, at 7 seconds
3. João Almeida (Por) UAE Team Emirates, at 30s
4. Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious, at 59s
5. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, at 1-01
6. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain-Victorious, at 1-52
7. Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) BORA-hansgrohe, at 1-58
8. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan Team, at 2-58
9. Juan Pedro López (Esp) Trek-Segafredo, at 4-04
10. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, at 9-06