As GC contender behind Giro d'Italia leader Mathieu Van der Pol, Simon Yates is in an ideal position to take pink on Mount Etna on Tuesday.

Van der Pol has already indicated that although he will do everything in his power to hold on to the lead, he will not be able to pass the first major mountain of the 2022 Giro on Tuesday as the overall leader.

Logic and history, however, dictate that if Van der Pol cracks, Simon Yates, currently in second place overall by 11 seconds, will be the first to benefit. Yates took the jersey, especially in Etna in 2018, where his then-teammate Esteban Chaves took the stage win.

Not so fast, BikeExchange-Jayco sport director Matt White told Cyclingnews on Monday. While the possibility of Yates winning Pink cannot be ruled out, in White's view, that scenario is only one of many options.

"There are a lot of options tomorrow, multiple possible developments, like Esteban [Chaves] in 2018, where the breakaway could break away even though Simon [Yates] crossed in front of him," White said. [Now, you can blanket the top five, so if someone wants to lead off and win the bonus, it doesn't necessarily mean we're wearing the jersey. It could be a variety of jerseys."

The climb up Mount Etna is by no means straightforward. Tuesday's climb is 22.8 km and relatively gentle, averaging 5.9%. The steepest section is in the middle, a slope of about 14%.

Apart from the old cliché that you don't win Grand Tours on big climbs like Etna, but you can lose them, White argued that what happens in the first week of the Giro fundamentally changes how you build your strategy for the crucial third week of racing. It is part of a process that began with a more sedate uphill finish in Visegrad on the first stage.

"What matters is if someone has a bad day," White told Cycling News.

"This race is never won in the first week, but what happens now could put you in a situation where you ultimately have to change your goals."

For some pundits, Yates has, in a sense, already delivered the coup de grace that he might have wanted to save until Tuesday by winning the opening time trial in Budapest. As a result, he moved ahead of his rivals and showed the world that he was formidable, albeit for a short time. As a result, he has more options in Etna, choosing or being forced to take a more sober view of things.

Second, some say that Yates' time trial results and knowing he can run like that will make things a little easier for the Brits in the mountains than in 2018.

White is wary of reading too much into Saturday's stunning time trial performance over the long haul of the Giro. He said the three-week time trial is a whole different kettle of fish, where leg strength is most important than pure time trial ability.

He cited the case of Primosz Roglic, who won the opening time trial of 2019, "at the end of the race he was down on both hands and knees and suffered burnout.

"We didn't know how good a time triallist he was in 2018, so (Yates') time trial ride changes the tactics we've been using. It was a race when Tom Dumoulin and Chris Froome were at their peak, and there was a time trial in the middle of the race.

"But it's good that he got a good start and had a little competition last week. We'll see who they are in the next 24 hours."