Giro d'Italia 2019: Simon Yates reacts to Stage 9 time trial failure

Updated 20/05/2019 at 13:36 GMT

Mitchelton-Scott’s Simon Yates says his disappointing performance in Stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia was a surprise to him.

Simon Yates, en défaillance lors du chrono de Saint-Marin sur le Giro 2019

Image credit: Getty Images

Yates lost three further minutes to General Classification favourite Primoz Roglic after a lacklustre showing in Sunday’s wet time trial in Italy.

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The Briton didn’t look in too much trouble at the second checkpoint, but the final climb section of the stage saw him struggle, and the 26-year-old now needs a very strong display in the second two weeks of the race to get back into podium contention.

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Speaking in a statement released by his team on Sunday evening, Yates said:

I had bit of a stinker. I was going OK on the flat section there but when I tried to step on it once we reached the climb, I just didn’t have anything.

“It’s one of those things,” Yates continued. “We’ll have to come up with a new plan now, a new strategy and go from there.

“We’re still early on in the race. We’ve only done one effort before today, and that was in the prologue, all of the other days have been flat and in the wheels. I’m looking forward to getting more and more into the mountains now to see what we can do.”

Team Director Matt White also spoke on Yates’s performance in the Time Trial, saying: “Obviously the TT didn’t turn out how we wanted. It shifts the race a little bit as it obviously wasn’t in our plans to be in this position on the first rest day, but things happen and plans can be changed and we will adapt accordingly.

The climbing of the Giro hasn’t started yet, we haven’t done a single mountain stage yet so there’s still a lot to unfold. We’ve seen in the past that the Giro has big surprises.

"A bad day in the Giro, as we know, doesn’t mean 30seconds. The gaps in the Giro tend to be bigger than other Grand Tours and we’re looking forward to Friday when the race kicks off in earnest again.”

The Giro returns on Tuesday with a largely flat sprint stage.

Giro d’Italia – Stage 9 Results:

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 51:52
2. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Soudal) +0:11
3. Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) +1:00
31. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) +3:11

Giro d’Italia – General Classification after Stage 9:

1. Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) 36:08:32
2. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +1:50
3. Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) +2:21
24. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) +5:36

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