Adam Yates shines at Tour de Romandie
First-time victory at one-week race bolsters Brit’s credentials ahead of the Tour de France
Adam Yates added further lustre to his reputation as one of the world’s best racers over one week with victory at the Tour de Romandie at his first attempt.
The Lancastrian moved into the yellow jersey with victory on Saturday’s queen stage to the ski station of Thyon 2000 before safely finishing in the bunch on the race’s final sprint stage to end 19 seconds clear of Movistar’s Matteo Jorgenson, with Bahrain Victorious’s Damiano Caruso third and the hugely promising 20-year-old Briton Max Poole (Team DSM) in fourth.
Indeed, it was a good week for British riders all round, with stage wins, and stints in yellow, for Ethan Vernon (Soudal-quick Step) and Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) earlier in the week.
After he’d finished joking that he was delighted to end the week with a 100% winning record, Yates said: “It’s been a perfect week for us, with two stage wins and the overall, so we can’t ask for much more,” his mountain triumph coming the day after team-mate Juan Ayuso had been quickest in the 19km time trial.
It was yet another impressive performance over one week that Yates has become adept at. His record in Grand Tours has been somewhat erratic but since turning pro in 2014 he has racked up 43 stage races, outside of those threeweek races, and been in the top 10 on 29 occasions, including six victories.
Romandie was Yates’s first competitive outing since March’s Volta a Catalunya, where he was set back by injuries sustained in an opening-day crash. “Winning here was the plan after the little break that I had that gave me a chance to recover from my crash in Catalunya,” said the UAE climber. “We knew that there was a bigmountain day that I could win. It’s easier said than done but in the end we managed to do it.”
Yates will now turn his attention to preparing for the Tour de France, where he will step back into a support role for two-time champion Tadej Pogačar. “I’ll have a small break now and then maybe do some altitude, and then step-by-step we’ll make my condition a little bit better and hopefully be ready for the big objective at the Tour de France,” he said.
“It’s been a perfect week... we can’t ask for much more”