Yates plots high road route to Giro D’italia win

CYCLING: Briton believes he is ready to challenge for a Grand Tour success

British star Simon Yates believes he is better equipped than ever to challenge for a Grand Tour win despite the course for the Giro d’italia favouring his main rivals.

The Giro, second only to the Tour de France in terms of prestige and size, starts in Jerusalem on Friday, with two further stages in Israel over the weekend before the race moves to Sicily and starts its three-week journey to the finish in Rome.

Yates is riding the Giro for the first time, having finished sixth at the 2016 Vuelta a Espana and seventh at last year’s Tour, and the 25-year-old from Bury is co-leading his Mitcheltonscott team with Colombia’s Esteban Chaves.

Yates has become a great climber and has already claimed two big wins at altitude this season at Paris-nice and the Volta a Catalunya.

With the Giro traditionally won in the mountains, this form suggests he can match the podium finishes Chaves gained in his 2016 breakthrough season at the Giro and Vuelta. Yates, however, knows he can climb with the best of them but is less certain of his ability against the clock.

Yates said: “I say this every time but me and Esteban ride really well together – we have a great partnership and it means the team has two strong cards to play.

“I just want to do the best I can but we’ll have to see how the others go on those two time trials. Realistically, I’m probably already down a few minutes on them.”

The two stages that worry him are the first stage – a short but undulating and technical 9.7km blast through Jerusalem – and the 16th, a flat 34.2km lung-buster starting in Trento.

These stages clearly favour last year’s winner, and world time trial champion, Tom Dumoulin and Team Sky leader Chris Froome, a two-time Olympic timetrial bronze medallist.

That said, any advantage built in the time trials must be defended on the 101st Giro’s eight mountain-top finishes, including three in a row before the usual canter to Rome.

Building on the advice his twin brother Adam gave him after his ninthplace finish last year, Simon has tweaked his training and approach.

“Adam went really well last year but he admits he made a few mistakes in his preparation,” he explained.

“So I’ve been in Andorra for some really serious climbing over the last few weeks – it’s just been me, my bike and the melting snow some days but it’s been great.”

Yates, however, was less willing to talk about the story that threatens to overshadow the entire Giro: Froome’s participation despite returning an adverse finding for an asthma drug on his way to victory at the Vuelta in September.

Because the drug in question in Froome’s case is allowed up to a certain amount – a limit he was twice over – he is free to ride on until the authorities decide to charge and convict him of a doping offence.

With both sides in the dispute still gathering legal and scientific arguments, that date is still some way off.

Picture: AP. Simon Yates says he is better equipped than ever for glory.