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Adam Yates to make Tour de France 2019 focus

  • Ron 

2016 best young rider Adam Yates will line up at the Tour de France in July, motivated to impact the top-end of the general classification battle.

Having finished fourth that same year, things didn’t go to plan for the 26-year-old when he returned in 2018, settling for 29th place, a result he’s determined to turn in his favour this year.

The 2019 Tour de France route, released last year, features limited time trialling in the form of one team time trial and one individual individual time trial, a surprising number of climbs at high altitude and some extreme stage lengths, both long and short.

Adam Yates:
“I’m super excited to go back to the Tour this year. Last year we made some mistakes that cost us and it was a big disappointment, so it’ll be good to go back and rectify that.

“Even though I’ve got earlier races/targets coming up, in the back of my mind everything I’m doing is build up for the Tour.

“Already this year the team has been really committed in all aspects and it just goes to show because the results are flowing. Even though the Tour is a long way away at this moment in time and there’s a lot of races before we get there, it’s a good feeling to see the team working so well so early in the season.

“Obviously 2016 was a highlight for me personally, riding almost two weeks in the white jersey and eventually finishing fourth on general classification was an amazing experience and confirmed to myself that I can ride at the highest level for three weeks.”

Matt White:
“The challenge for any athlete is repeating a breakthrough performance. Adam showed in 2016 that he can mix it with the big boys at the Tour de France, he had a very solid Giro in 2017 and even though last year didn’t go as we had planned, we are heading back this year with ambitions of Adam challenging for a spot on the podium come July.”

“Adam will have a great team supporting him and I really believe he is going to show what he is capable of. He is one of the best climbers in the world and helping him to put it all together for three weeks on the biggest stage is an exciting challenge.

“We are also continuing to learn as a team and we are going through that process with different groups of riders at different races and that will only continue.

“It is an interesting course with limited time trial kilometres and some very high passes, which have not been seen before in the Tour de France. I like the route and avoiding Western France makes that first week a little less tense. We are in the mountains quite early and with a team time trial day two we will certainly see the lay of the land quite early in proceedings.”

NOTE: All riders subject to final selection process.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

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