Simon Yates has announced his retirement from professional cycling with immediate affect. It beings an end to a sparkling career which was heavily shaped by one particular race: the Giro d’Italia.
Cycling seasons tend to be remembered by their highlights; moments that enthral us, events which surprise us, and the compelling stories of the riders involved. Stage 20 of the 2025 Giro had all this and more. Prior to the visit in May, the last time the Giro had ascended the Colle delle Finestre was in 2018, when Simon Yates finished 38 minutes down and his pink jersey challenge blew up on its menacing slopes. This season he banished his Finestre demons and stormed his way to the maglia rosa ahead of Isaac del Toro and Richard Carapaz.
On stage at Rouleur Live 2025, Yates provided insight on the tactics of the pivotal stage, where Del Toro and Carapaz looked at each other and he stole the show: “[The night before] I said to my sports director, ‘I need these guys to look at each other. I need a gap’. I think that was my only chance. I’d tried to drop them earlier in the race, and if anything they were stronger than me. I needed that moment of hesitation. I knew Carapaz had already won the Giro and so a second or third place doesn’t matter to him. So, it all fell into place for me.”
That aspect of everything falling into place is something Yates is quick to reference, as if he cannot believe (what he sees as) the luck that came his way. For the rest of the cycling world, very few would begrudge a bit of fortune for someone as talented and driven as Yates. The few expectations would be those in support of Carapaz and Del Toro.
“When I was initiating the attacks, there wasn’t much chat from the car. But when I had the gap, I needed to know if they were together because if they were together they would be riding slower. I was screaming down the radio,” said Yates.
It was a tactical masterclass from Yates and Visma-Lease a Bike, with Wout van Aert up the road ahead, providing support when Yates caught up.
“Wout [van Aert] being there, I think it cracked the other two [Del Toro and Carapaz]. It wasn’t just his physical power, it was the mental aspect. Them hearing ‘Simon’s joined Wout’. Those two are already fighting, they were already not friends,” Yates explained to the Rouleur Live crowd.
Switching from a team he had known since turning pro to one of the sport’s most meticulously engineered environments could easily unsettle a rider, but Yates’ move from Jayco-Alula to Visma–Lease a Bike has proved to be a masterstroke for the man from Bury, who is always known for being measured, was reflective on how fitting into a new structure can be a challenge.
“I wasn’t sure if I would get my chance at Visma,” said Yates.
However, he admitted that he had discussed leadership opportunities with the team, when he told them: “If you give me a chance at the Giro, I will try and take it. And then I’d still go to the Tour as a domestique for Jonas [Vingegaard].”
Read more from Rouleur live: ‘I don’t really like racing but I like winning’ — Pauline Ferrand-Prévot’s unrelenting path to the top
This season he was looking for a fresh start. But the past still followed him, of course. That 2018 Giro d’Italia remains etched into cycling folklore: Yates in pink, seemingly unstoppable, until stage 19 on the Finestre, one of cycling’s most fabled climbs. Chris Froome’s long-range attack reversed the race and flipped Yates’s fortunes in a single, brutal afternoon. The moment still prompts the inevitable questions — what happened on the Finestre, and how do you recover from that? — but it also framed the resilience that would later define him.
“The Giro is a race I fell in love with. In 2018, I fell famously apart. In the coming years, I came back and tried again, but it never worked,” said Yates.
Whereas this season, he said he couldn’t have wished for a better run at the race: "This year was so smooth, not one puncture or crash. That’s where it starts. It's a relief, where you say ‘I cannot believe it’s gone so smoothly’.”
Did the result change him?
“I don’t think I have changed. Nothing will ever beat that, not even just in cycling, my whole life. The high that I got from the race, I can't imagine that I'll ever have that again.”
That 2018 season might be remembered for his collapse on the Finestre at the Giro, but it was also the year he claimed his first Grand Tour win at the Vuelta a España. It was at the height of the golden era of British Grand Tour racing, a year in which Froome swashbuckled his way to the Giro title, and Geraint Thomas produced the crowning moment of his career at the Tour de France, to make it a triple crown sweep for the Brits.
Last season, like 2018, will be remembered as one of Yates' greatest years. As he leaves professional cycling behind, his two rides on the Finestre will forever be etched onto the collective memory of the sport.
