The Colle delle Finestre is a sporting theatre in the north of Italy and just a short ski run from the border of France but it has become the site of two of Britain’s most incredible moments in this race. In 2018 Simon Yates was leading the Giro d’Italia by 3min 22sec but became the victim of Chris Froome’s imperious ride on the same slopes. That day, Yates collapsed and ultimately finished 38 minutes behind Froome but on Saturday, seven years later, the rider from Bury would have his redemption by pulling the same trick on Isaac del Toro and Yates will now – barring accidents – win his second Grand Tour on Sunday.

This was billed as Del Toro v Richard Carapaz and even pre-stage Yates was playing down his chances, he said those two riders were a “step above”. This was clearly a bluff. Over the last 38.5km of almost entirely uphill racing, Yates overturned his 1min 21sec pre-stage deficit and created an insurmountable time gap of 3min 56sec to Del Toro.

What happened in 2018 has clearly stayed with Yates ever since and from the moment the Giro released its route for this year he has been targeting some kind of redemption.

“Once the parcours was released I always had it in the back of my mind that maybe I could come here and close the chapter. Maybe not to take the pink jersey and the race but at least win the stage win or something,” the 32-year-old told TNT Sports after the stage, almost through tears. “To try and show myself, the way I know I can do and to pull it off – I really didn’t believe it. I have to thank the guys, the team. They believed in me and even during the stage they were saying ‘just give it a try’ and I did it in the end.

“I’m not really an emotional person but even coming over the finish line I couldn’t hold back the tears. It’s something I’ve worked towards throughout my career, year after year and I’ve had a lot of setbacks. I’ve finally managed to pull it off.”