Cycling Weekly – July 25, 2019

10 | July 25, 2019 | Cycling Weekly

NEWS

Yates took his second stage win atop

the Prat d’Albi on stage 15

I

nitially called up to be super

domestique for his brother Adam’s

GC hopes, Simon Yates has put the

disappointment of the Giro d’Italia

behind him to take two Tour de France

stage wins in the space of four days.

Speak ing after his second win atop the

summit finish at Prat d’A lbis, Yates said:

“I feel proud, it was a little bit different

to my first stage win, we really raced

from the beginning to the final. It was

very tough and I’m proud of what I did

there,” Yates said.

“I came here to support my brother and

take any opportunities to win a stage. So

to now have two stage wins already... I

will continue to support the team or try

again in the mountain stages.”

A fter a largely anonymous first

week where he purposely lost time in

preparation for the high mountains and

repaying Adam’s work at the Vuelta

a España last year, Simon took full

advantage of his free rein to cash in,

first in the run into Bagnères-de-Bigorre

where he sat in the wheels of Pello

Bilbao and Gregor Mulberger before

displaying his track craft to sprint

to victory. Then, three days later, he

unleashed a blistering k ick, dropped

fellow breakaway companion Simon

Gesck he, and maintained a lead as the

fierce GC battle unfolded behind.

It gave him enough time to take an age

to tweak his jersey for the cameras as he

secured a second victory.

“I’ve not come here with any ambitions

for the GC whatsoever and I’m just very

relaxed and going about it and racing how

I want which is to be quite aggressive and

I enjoy that, so maybe that is something

to do with it,” Yates offered as an

explanation of why his form is peak ing

here rather than at his original season

target at the Giro.

Yates now has

multiple stage wins at

all three Grand Tours

but isn’t sure if he

will defend his Vuelta

title later on this year.

“I’ll decide after this.

I don’t have a plan for

the rest of the year

now, so we’ll see, we’ll

see. R ight now I’m

very tired.”

Simon Yates doubles up

to join multi Grand Tour

stage winners’ club

Mitchelton-Scott rider

puts disappointment

of Giro d’Italia behind

him with Tour success

Stage win success has made

Yates the centre of attention

Paul Knot t in Foix