Adam Yates (Image credit: Getty Images) Some time in the afternoon on Friday, May 15, for the first time in nine years Adam Yates and the rest of the Giro d'Italia peloton will ride past the exact spot at the foot of the Blockhaus climb where in 2017 his hopes of taking his first Grand Tour title went up in smoke when somebody collided with a badly parked police motorbike and several top GC names, including Yates, went down. Of the three big names who came off the worst in that crash, Geraint Thomas retired at the end of 2025, and Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), having fallen again in Itzulia Basque Country and fractured his pelvis, was unable to start the 2026 Giro. Yates, on the other hand, is back in the Giro GC fight again. As the sole leader of the UAE assault on the Giro d'Italia this year, after teammate João Almeida pulled out because he hadn’t achieved race condition , 2026 could be a great opportunity for the Briton to shine on his own account.…