Stage one winner Simon Yates has taken a second victory at the three-day Vuelta Asturias, attacking on today’s final climb and riding away solo, to snatch another spectacular win as part of the ‘Final Touches‘ to his Giro d’Italia preparations.
After bringing back a breakaway of four riders ahead of the final climb, Team BikeExchange-Jayco continued to set a fierce tempo at the head of the peloton, leading into ‘Violeo,’ a short 3.1km climb with sections as steep as 20% and an average gradient of 9.2%.
Australian powerhouse Callum Scotson then launched an attack on the bottom slopes of the climb which Yates used as a launch pad, jumping across to his teammate before darting away again, with just one rider able to hold on his wheel initially.
As the road continued to head north, Yates pressed on the pedals once again, riding away from his rivals to crest the top of the climb and barrel down a technical descent alone, and towards the finish line with a healthy advantage.
The 29-year-old maintained his lead over a small group of chasers on the flat road to the finishing town of Oviedo, crossing the line with a 37 second gap to take his second victory of the race. The success brings both Yates and the Australian outfit confidence ahead of the upcoming Giro d’Italia, starting on Friday, 6th May.
Simon Yates – 1st place
“It was a good race today in the end. I had a little bit of a bad day yesterday, just with the heat. It was the first really hot race that I had done all year but today I bounced back very well, the legs felt good and the team rode really well again.
They controlled all day, set me up well for the final attack on the last climb, so it all went to plan and now we are looking forward to the Giro, which starts already in five days.”
Matt White – Head Sport Director
“Today was a short, intense and relatively flat day. We had a really crucial and very, very tough climb to the finish. As we have been for the last couple of days, we continued our process of preparing for the Giro, we controlled the day and brought the break back and the boys put Simon in a very good position at the bottom of the climb.
Callum Scotson slipped away on the bottom slopes of the climb and Simon went across to him. He rode a tempo that nobody could follow, then he was in the safest place to be, ahead solo, on a very tricky descent where there was a crash in the main group behind.
Simon was too strong, and it was a good comeback after yesterday. We know the reason why Simon suffered yesterday. Traditionally he suffers with the first shock of high temperatures and humidity in the season, and we have now got that out of the way with two hot days here.
We walk away with two wins from this race, the team is in a really good place, and we built some really good cohesiveness. Now it’s legs up, recover and focus on getting across to Budapest to start the Giro d’Italia next week.”
2022 Vuelta Asturias stage 3 results:
1. Simon Yates 2:47:08
2. Vincenzo Albanese +0:37
3. Kevin Vauquelin +0:37
Final General Classification:
1. Ivan Sosa
2. Lorenzo Fortunato +0:15
3. Nicolas Edet +0:44
14. Simon Yates
Photo: Gomez Sport
