Mitchelton-scott
Looking for: More stage wins from breakaways are on the cards
When Mitchelton-scott entered the pro cycling scene in 2012, as fresh-faced upstarts with a typically brash Aussie manner, their ambitions were initially limited. Without a single star rider to compete for the yellow jersey, they focused their resources instead towards more achievable goals, like perfecting the art of the team time trial (which they won in 2013) and excelling in non-specialised, punchy stages.
That changed in 2016, when young Brit Adam Yates hit the big time with fourth place overall at the Tour. His success was built upon by twin brother Simon, who won the Vuelta a couple of years later (at least, we think it was Simon — the Yates are about as identical a pair of twins as you’ll see), while Esteban Chaves’s Cheshire cat grin was on show on the podiums of both the Giro and Vuelta. Suddenly, the team was replete with quality climbers capable of challenging for Grand Tours.
More recently, however, that has not been the case. At last year’s Tour, for instance, neither of the Yates brothers managed to mount a GC challenge, prompting the team to reprioritise chasing stage wins instead — and to great success, with Simon claiming two in the mountains, and Matteo Trentin and Darly Impey extending the tally to four.
It’s an identity crisis epitomised by Adam Yates himself. He remains a quality climber who stars in week-long stage races throughout the season, but hasn’t managed to put together a consistent general classification challenge in any of his five Grand Tours since his breakthrough Tour four years ago.
The team has pledged to build on last year’s stage-winning success, perhaps in a bid to take the GC pressure off its top riders for a season.
Team boss Matt White said: “After the success of last year, we want to chase stage wins at the Tour de France. Once the GC is stabilised, there’ll still be opportunities because no one wants to control the Tour de France for 20 days; you just have to pick the right moments.”
Adam Yates is slated for the Tour along with Esteban Chaves while Simon will return for a GC tilt at the Giro d’italia. Chaves in particular has had a strong start post-lockdown, with fourth at the Tour of Burgos and 11th at the Tour of Poland. Adam Yates began the season with promise, with a short stage race win at the UAE Tour in February. At the time of writing he had made an unremarkable start to the Critérium du Dauphiné.
STAR: Adam Yates (GBR)
Perhaps the steadier, less impulsive of the featherweight Bury-born twins, on his day Adam can be just as explosive a climber. Has struggled in recent years with the rigours of three-week racing — 29th overall is the highest he’s finished in his last four Grand Tours. Could this be his year?
HITTER: Esteban Chaves (Col)
Like Adam Yates, 30-year-old Chaves threatened as a GC hitter for a moment in 2016, when he was second in the Giro, less than a minute behind Vincenzo Nibali. He hasn’t managed to build on that success but what he does have is a good haul of Grand Tour stage wins. Mitchelton will hope he can add to them this year.