page_title: Simon Yates (cyclist)
section_title: 2018: Grand Tour success
hierarchical_section_title: Simon Yates (cyclist) / Career / Orica–GreenEDGE/Mitchelton–Scott (2014–present) / 2018: Grand Tour success
caption_attribution_description: GIR40263 simon yates
context_page_description: Simon Philip Yates is a British road and track racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Mitchelton–Scott. His twin brother is Adam Yates, who is also a cyclist for the same team. He won the gold medal in the points race at the 2013 Track Cycling World Championships. Following a doping ban in 2016, he won the young rider classification in the 2017 Tour de France and the general classification in the 2018 Vuelta a España. Yates has also won multiple stages at each of cycling's three grand tours.
context_section_description: Yates confirmed his and the team's plans for him participating in the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. In March, Yates won Stage 7 of the Paris–Nice, a mountain top finish to Valdeblore La Colmiane, to take the overall race lead going into the final stage. However, Marc Soler of the Movistar Team, who started 37 seconds down on Yates in sixth place overall, attacked around halfway into the stage along with compatriot David de la Cruz (Team Sky); the duo joined Omar Fraile (Astana) at the head of the race, and the trio managed to stay clear of the rest of the field by the time they reached Nice. As de la Cruz and Fraile contested stage honours, Soler finished third – acquiring four bonus seconds on the finish in addition to three gained at an earlier intermediate sprint – and with a 35-second gap to Yates and the remaining general classification contenders, it was enough to give Soler victory over Yates by four seconds. Later that month, Yates won stage 7 of the Volta a Catalunya after attacking multiple times on the 6.6-kilometre (4.1-mile)-long final circuit through the Montjuïc Park; he finished fourth overall.
  Yates entered the Giro d'Italia as joint leader of Mitchelton–Scott with Esteban Chaves, supported by a strong climbing focused team including Roman Kreuziger, Mikel Nieve and Jack Haig. Yates placed seventh in the opening 9.7-kilometre (6.0-mile) individual time trial in Jerusalem, 20 seconds down on defending race winner Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb). On Stage 6 to Mount Etna, Yates took the race lead after finishing second behind teammate Chaves; Yates attacked from the group of favourites 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) from the summit and caught Chaves, who had been part of the day's breakaway, in sight of the line, but allowed Chaves to take the stage honours. The result meant Yates held the Maglia rosa over Dumoulin in second, and Chaves in third place. Yates won stage 9 after accelerating away with 100 metres (330 feet) to go on the summit finish to Gran Sasso d'Italia, extending his lead over Chaves and Dumoulin. Yates extended his lead further on Stage 10, but teammate Chaves lost 25 minutes after being dropped on the first climb. Yates claimed his second stage victory on Stage 11, attacking with 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) to go and holding off the pursuit of Dumoulin to win on a hill top finish in Osimo, increasing his lead.
  On Stage 14, Yates finished second behind Chris Froome (Team Sky) on Monte Zoncolan. With six bonus seconds for finishing second, Yates extended his overall advantage over Dumoulin, whilst his gap over Froome was 3 minutes, 10 seconds. Yates pedaled to a solo win on stage 15 to Sappada, attacking with 18 kilometres (11 miles) remaining, increasing his lead over Dumoulin. After holding his lead through the 34.2-kilometre (21.3-mile) individual time trial held as stage 17, Yates cracked on the final climb to Prato Nevoso on stage 18, losing 28 seconds to all of his other general classification rivals. Stage 19 had been classified as the 'queen stage' of the race, with three focussed climbs in the latter half of the stage: the half paved-half gravel climb of the Colle delle Finestre, followed by the climb to Sestriere and the final uphill finish to Bardonecchia. Yates cracked on the lower slopes of the Finestre, before Froome launched a solo attack with 80 kilometres (50 miles) left of the stage. Froome's advantage grew throughout the second half of the stage, culminating in him taking a stage victory of more than three minutes and thereby also taking the overall race lead, 40 seconds ahead of Dumoulin. Yates lost over 38 minutes to Froome and dropped to 17th overall. He eventually finished the race 21st overall, 1 hour and 15 minutes behind the winner Froome.
  After the Giro, Yates made his return to racing at the Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia, where he finished second behind team-mate Robert Power. He subsequently returned to WorldTour competition at the Tour de Pologne in August, where he won the race's closing stage with a solo attack and finished second overall behind Michał Kwia
caption: Yates wearing the Maglia rosa at the 2018 Giro d'Italia
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