At the top of Brockhaus last Sunday, Simon Yates appeared to have reached the end of the road. His hopes of winning the Giro d'Italia were dashed when he lost nearly 11 minutes on the final climb, and when asked if he would continue racing after a rest day in Pescara, he gave no answer.

Yates had injured his knee in a crash on the fourth stage to Mount Etna, and it seemed almost logical that he would quietly retire from the Giro and turn his attention to leading the Bike Exchange-Jacco line at the Tour de France. And yet, day after day, he continued to sign on and complete the course.

But after winning stage 14 in Turin on Saturday afternoon, Yates admitted that he had considered abandoning the Giro for much of the second week. After all, he had come here with high aspirations rather than to add to his collection of stage wins.

"I've been thinking about it for the last few days, because I still had knee problems," Yates said after sitting in the press conference room.

"On the mental side, I'm ....... Like I said before, I came here to fight for the overall and I didn't do anything. But today was a morale booster and maybe I can fight for more stages."

The Yates-Giro connection is well known: in 2018, he carried the maglia rosa for two weeks, winning three stage victories almost palpably in the process, but his challenge collapsed in Colle delle Finestre, two days after the finish in Rome.

In 2020, he left Palermo as the leading contender but collapsed at COVID-19. The year before last, he was plagued by hamstring problems and never shone, but he won a stage in Milan to finish third overall.

This time, Yates' surprise victory in the short Budapest time trial on stage 2 made it look like it might finally be his year. However, a crash on the way to Mount Etna jeopardized his race. He was in no condition to win this race.

"I have a lot of problems with my knee and I'm still not 100%," Yates said. At least I can stand up out of the saddle now, but before I used to have a lot of discomfort standing up out of the saddle. I don't know if you've seen the way I ride my bike, but 90% of the time I'm standing out of the saddle.

"I won't go into too much detail, but I feel like I'm finally back where I want to be. There's a little bit of frustration not being part of the overall contenders, but that's the way it is. But that's the way it is."

Yates also cited the heat as a contributing factor to his difficulties in Abruzzo last weekend, so it seemed somewhat counterintuitive that he would win on the Giro's warmest day. But the situation was a little different.

"This is excuse 101, but it was dry and hot today.

"I poured maybe 10 or 12 bottles of water on my body today to cool down. I was running on a circuit so I could drink more and more water. That was one of the main reasons why I was able to cool off and have a good run. I did my best at the blockhouse. I tried my best, but my body said no. That's the way it is. That's just the way it is."

On Saturday's Turin Inland stage, Yates was one of 12 riders to withstand a strong ride by Beulah Hansgrohe with 80km to go.

As the gradient eased toward the summit of Maddalena, Yates inspired the bridging forces of Richard Carapas (Ineos Grenadiers), Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Kazakstan), and Parco del No He overtook them in the unclassified mountains of Ville and won by 15 seconds.

"The situation there was really an overall battle. I was mostly in the passenger seat, just thinking about the stage," Yates said. I was just thinking about the stage," Yates said. The three guys with me were strong on the climbs, so I had to pick my moment to attack and make sure I had both hands on the wheel.

Yates was previously asked if his sixth career Giro stage win offset the disappointment of his desire for the pink jersey ending prematurely.

"Not really," he said. But I came here to win the race. It's a different stage for me. I've already won five races and this is my sixth."