Greig Leach

It has been said that the Malliot Jeune gives you wings. The same must be true of the Maglia Rosa. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) started the day with two minutes and eleven seconds on second place Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb). It was fully expected by all involved that Dumoulin would be able to use his expertise and size to power ratio to pull back all of that time and more. Instead, Yates brilliantly and courageously defended his lead. He finished twentieth on the day, but that was enough to keep him in the pink jersey by 56 seconds. His other main rivals are two minutes or more behind him. Given how he has been riding in the high mountians, tomorrows flat stage for the sprinters to recover and two mountain top finishes before the finale in Roma, it seems unlikely that he will not win the 101st Giro d'Italia. But, anything can happen, and anyone can have a bad day. Not a bad position to be in for a debute appearance in the Giro.