Yates' Giro, Olympics bids still on track

Thursday, 23 January 2020:

Simon Yates has eased fears over a knee injury from a heavy crash by climbing onto the podium on stage three at cycling's Tour Down Under.

The British star is targeting May's Giro d'Italia in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympic Games in what shapes as a massive 2020 campaign.

He is also a crucial piece this week in the Mitchelton-Scott puzzle at his maiden Tour Down Under as teammate Daryl Impey chases a third-consecutive overall title in South Australia.

But Yates was caught up in the mess which took down a host of riders less than 2km out from the finish on the uphill drag into Stirling on Wednesday's stage two.

It left him nursing a nasty cut on his left knee, leading to genuine concern within the team as to whether he could start Thursday's stage three at Unley.

"It was a little bit stiff in the morning. I think it was a good job we didn't have a quick start up the highway there," Yates said.

"But once we sort of got into it, it started getting better and better."

Yates didn't keep up with Australian Richie Porte as the Trek-Segafredo rider launched himself up the final climb into Paracombe to take the stage and the overall lead.

Rob Power (Sunweb) was second, narrowly ahead of Yates.

The Englishman was not sure if he would have gone all the way with Porte if not for his knee injury.

"It's hard to say - your guess is as good as mine," Yates said.

"I just did the best I could.

"Also, I could see Imps (Impey) was close as well, so I was half doing a job for him and half going for myself.

"But chapeaux to Richie. He showed again with these short little climbs he's a notch above."

Ben Hermans (Israel Start-Up Nation) has flown home to Europe for surgery on the injuries he suffered in Wednesday's crash.

The Belgian suffered multiple fractures in his shoulder, a broken collarbone and two broken ribs. He is expected to be out of action for two months.

Rafael Valls (Bahrain-McLaren) was also forced to withdraw with a sacral fracture, while Italian star Elia Viviani (Cofidis) sustained road rash on a large section of his upper body and was sent to hospital for assessment.

Viviani completed Thursday's stage and should be in contention for honours on the sprinter-friendly stages four and five.






AAP






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