Yates looks for stage win as he defends white jersey

SIMON Yates will keep looking for opportunities to win a stage of the Tour de France as he protects his lead in the young riders’ classification.

Yates’ grip on the white jersey in the Tour was strengthened considerably by the end of Sunday’s incidentpacked stage nine from Nantua to Chambery, as his lead went from 28 seconds over Frenchman Pierre Latour to two minutes and 58 seconds over South African Louis Meintjes.

With his main focus this year on the general classification and the battle for white, Yates knows he will not be allowed to join any breakaways, while targeting a single stage could cost him a bad day down the line.

However, the Orica-Scott rider does not want to miss the chance to claim a first Tour stage win of his career if it comes his way.

“It’s about how, where and when,” Yates told Press Association Sport.

“For sure I’m still too close in the GC to be allowed any space to move in the breakaways, but if I can be there in the final with the biggest guys, we’ll see.

“It depends how the next few hard days go, but for sure I’m always looking for that opportunity to win a stage.”

The 24-year-old is racing in the Tour for the third time.

He made his debut in 2014 with a brief simply to gain experience of the world’s biggest cycling race, and then lined up again in 2015 to hunt individual stages.

The goal this time is to win the white jersey which his twin brother Adam brought home 12 months ago.

Simon has already shown he can claim stage honours and still maintain a top-10 position in a grand tour, winning stage six of last year’s Vuelta a Espana on his way to sixth place overall.

“The Vuelta last year was my first real crack at going for the GC on a grand tour and I managed to make it into the top 10,” he said.

“I had a few average days but I didn’t have any bad days.

“I suffered in the heat a few days, cocked it up a little bit and lost more time than I would have liked, but generally I was pretty decent all the way through and that’s what I’ve got to do again.

“You can’t have bad days. You can have average days but if you have a real stinker nobody’s waiting for you.”

Sunday’s stage saw major upheaval in the battle for the yellow jersey. Team Sky’s Chris Froome extended his advantage to 18 seconds over Italian Fabian Aru, but only after losing team-mate Geraint Thomas second overall at the start of the day - to a broken collarbone while rival Richie Porte also crashed out.

The race exploded into life on the Mont du Chat, the last of three hors categorie climbs on the day, and considered one of the hardest in France.