Yates' began the Giro on fire, winning Stage 2's time trial in Budapest before a crash on Mount Etna in Stage 4 saw him sustain a knee injury that would sideline or seriously limit him for the rest of the race.
He rode on despite that still targeting the general classification, but his day on Blockhaus saw that dream well and truly crushed, and it seemed likely he would not appear on the start line following the second rest day.
But instead of leaving the Giro to start recovering for the Tour de France, Yates continued to be there at each stage and re-announced himself to the race with a stellar win in Turin yesterday, revealing he had contemplated leaving for most of the week prior.
"The last few days I've been thinking about it," he said following Stage 14.
"Just because I was still having problems with my knee.
"The mental aspect… I was not really there. Like I said, I came here to fight for the overall and I was just doing nothing, I was at the back.
"I mean, not to put a downer on the day, but I came here to win the race. For me it's another stage. I have five already and it's number six.
But today has given me a lot of morale and maybe I can fight for more stages now."
The Giro has long been a love-hate relationship for Yates, holding the maglia rosa and winning three stages in 2018 before falling out of contention two days from the finish.
He was then forced to abandon mid-race in 2020 after contracting COVID-19, while his 2021 campaign saw him take third overall and a stage win despite battling a hamstring injury.
This time around, Yates' couldn't mask his knee problems in the difficult mountain stages, but revealed new-found optimism for the remaining seven stages of the race.
"I've had a lot of problems with the knee, and it's still not 100%," Yates said.
"At least I'm able to stand out of the saddle now, but before I was in a lot of discomfort when I stood out of the saddle.
"I don't know if you guys watch me ride a bike, but it's 90% out of the saddle so I had a lot of problems with that.
"I won't go into too much detail, but I feel like I'm finally arriving back where I want to be.
There's a little bit of frustration that I'm not fighting for the overall, but that's how it goes. You have to be good for three weeks."
The Giro d'Italia continues on SBS with Stage 15, a hard mountain stage finishing with three back-to-back Alpine climbs. Watch from 8.05pm AEST on SBS On Demand, with the SBS broadcast starting from 11pm. WA viewers can watch from 9pm AWST on SBS VICELAND.
