Slumped against the fencing of the finish area at Courchevel, his maillot open to his chest and facing a semi-circle of waiting media, Simon Yates (Team Jayco AluUla) needed a good few minutes to recover after taking second in the toughest stage of the Tour de France.
His first description of the 5,000-plus metres of climbing that he’d just completed to the team staff looking after him at the stage 17 finish was a single word - ‘wicked’ - that neatly summed up just how harsh the stage had been. But it did no justice to the courage of his ride and how close Yates had come to victory.
