Bradley Wiggins backs Simon Yates to win Giro d'Italia
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Updated 30/04/2019 at 15:22 GMT
Bradley Wiggins has backed Simon Yates to continue Britain's run of Grand Tour dominance with a victory at the Giro d'Italia in May.
Mitchelton Scott's British rider Simon Yates poses during the team's presentation
Image credit: Getty Images
British riders have won the past five Grand Tours with Yates' own win at the Vuelta in September capping off a historic clean sweep across 2018 which saw Chris Froome take the Giro d'Italia title and Geraint Thomas win the Tour de France.
Yates won three stages at last year's Giro and wore pink for over two weeks before Froome's sensational attack on Stage 19 transformed the complexion of the race.
Yates, riding for Mitchelton-Scott, made amends at the Vuelta but is returning to the Giro in 2019 to try and claim the pink jersey. Froome, targeting a fifth Tour de France, is not defending his title and Wiggins expects Yates to triumph in Italy despite the obvious pedigree of Tom Dumoulin, who won the Giro in 2017.
"I think he will [win it]," said Wiggins, on the latest episode of The Bradley Wiggins Show. "We haven't really seen Tom yet at this stage... Tom is someone who will ride himself into the Giro.
"I spoke to (Mitchelton-Scott sporting director) Matt White a bit this winter, and the things they were trying to improve on with Simon, and I think they learned a lot from that Giro last year and I think that showed at the Vuelta.
Obviously it's dependent on form, the Giro is a tough race, but I think they will get it right this year.
Yates has enjoyed a promising start to 2019, notably picking up a time trial win on Stage 5 of Paris-Nice - a section of his skillset which has been slightly weaker compared to Dumoulin.
And with a considered ride to 13th in GC at the Volta a Catalunya in the last week of March, Wiggins has been impressed with Yates so far.
"He has won that time trial in Paris-Nice which I know they wanted to really improve on going into the Giro," Wiggins added. "He is not too far off the pace but he's not too high up the classement where you think maybe he has hit it too early.
"Catalunya was the one for me, where he was just there in that 10-15 and Catalunya is a tough race, and we saw him on the last stage off the front with his brother and trying to help Adam get up there.
"He is just in a position where he can go either way now. He can fine-tune what he needs; he isn't trying to hold form at this stage. We are nearly a month away now from the start of the Giro so it is looking perfect for him."
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'Very unexpected' - Yates surprised by Time Trial victory
Wiggins was joined on this week's episode by Simon Gerrans, who retired from pro cycling at the end of 2018. Gerrans rode alongside both Simon and his brother Adam at GreenEDGE, now Mitchelton-Scott, and had an intriguing insight into what separates the two twins - and why Simon is more suited to Grand Tour cycling.
"Obviously they are two identical twins with very similar goals, but as riders I see them as very different as far as attributes go," said Gerrans.
"Adam Yates is very flamboyant, he will attack on feeling, we have seen him win the Clasica de San Sebastian, so he is a very exciting rider to watch in that way.
"And I think Simon Yates is probably the one with more Grand Tour potential because he is way more calculated. He time trials very well; you can see his efforts are really well timed; and I think as far as a three-week race goes, he is probably the one with more potential."
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Simon Yates of United Kingdom and Team Mitchelton Scott / Adam Yates of United Kingdom and Mitchelton Scott
Image credit: Getty Images
However, Gerrans wouldn't quite join Wiggins in tipping Yates for Giro glory this year - not with a field which includes the likes of Dumoulin and also Egan Bernal, who will be the leader for Team Ineos, the rebranded Team Sky.
"It's an all-star line-up at the Giro this year - he's got some pretty tough competition," he said. "You look at the guys who are targeting the Giro and he is going to have some work cut out... but everything seems like he is really on track."
Listen to the full episode for more from Wiggins and Gerrans on:
- A surprise winner at the Tour of Flanders
- Tributes for Peter Kennaugh
- What Simon is up to now and whether there are more psychopaths in the peloton or the City
- And the ‘Ultimate Rider’ – the guys each come up with their all-time dream riders to comprise the ultimate Tour champion
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