Yates eyes Giro and Tour in build-up to Tokyo

Simon Yates plans to race both the Giro d'italia and Tour de France this year but is yet to decide which will be his primary target as he looks towards the Tokyo Olympics.

The 28-year-old Briton is waiting for full details of the Giro route to be revealed before making a final call, but could look to target pink again after admitting this year's Tour and its 58 kilometres of individual time trials does not play to his strengths.

"The Tour is looking difficult already," he said. "I'm hoping for a better Giro course. With so many time trial kilometres (the Tour) is not a perfect course for me, but we'll see."

The Giro route is ordinarily announced in October but the presentation has been delayed amid the pandemic, with no further information on the May race expected before next month. If pink becomes his goal, Yates will then target stage wins at the Tour in order to arrive in Tokyo in the best possible condition for the Olympic road race - due to take place on July 24, less than a week after the Tour finishes.

"For me personally it's to do with the Olympics," the Team Bikeexchange rider said of competing in both races.

"I won't target both. For me, it's not possible. I'll just do one for (the general classification) and we'll go from there."

Yates made the Giro his primary focus last year but his bid for pink ended abruptly when he contracted coronavirus during the race and was forced to withdraw before the start of stage eight. The loss of off-season training has left him short of full fitness as the new season looms.

"For sure I've got some work to do, there's no doubt about that," he said. "But we have time so I'm not overly concerned."