Yates wants more time after retaking white jersey

The Orica-Scott rider finished 12th on the day, 72s down on stage winner Tejay van Garderen, but that was enough to leapfrog Quickstep-Floors' Bob Jungels – who dropped down to tenth overall – and back into the jersey for best young rider.

Bury's Yates had entered the 100th edition of the Giro in fine form and hoping to emulate his breakthrough performance from last year's Tour de France, where he finished fourth overall.

But a crash on stage nine involving a police motorbike, that saw him lose 4:39 to winner Nairo Quintana, dented those hopes as he dropped from third to 16th overall.

The 24-year-old has not lost touch though, and a series of solid climbing performances in the final week have seen him back in the top ten.

With two more climbing days to come he will hope to earn more of a lead over time trial specialist Jungels than the 28s he currently holds, with Sunday's final stage being a flat 29.3km test against the clock.

"Stage 9 feels like a really long time ago," said Yates after Thursday's effort. "I've been trying to chip away at the GC [general classification], not just for the white jersey but to move up on the GC in general.

"I don't feel like I've been climbing the best, I'm not up there with the best guys. But I will keep chipping away day by day.

"I may have the jersey, but it's not over yet. We still have two big mountain stages to come and the TT, so it's not over yet.

"Everyone knows (Jungels) is a good time trialist, and he's hung onto the jersey for so long now, so he's shown he's a good climber as well. We'll have to try again tomorrow."

Sportsbeat 2017