Adam Yates

This is the page about Adam Yates. The British cyclist has been riding for UAE-Team Emirates since 2023, where he immediately finished third in the Tour de France. IDLProCycling.com keeps a close eye on all news related to Yates, along with maintaining a biography of his career.

Yates develops into a top climber

Adam Yates was born on August 7, 1992, in Bury and is the twin brother of Vuelta a España winner Simon Yates. In his final year as an under-23 rider, Yates showcased his potential as a climber with a third-place finish in the Tour de l'Avenir. The following year, he moved to Orica-Greenedge. In his first professional year, the Brit made a strong impression by winning the Tour of Turkey and finishing sixth in the Critérium du Dauphiné.

In the subsequent years, Yates evolved into a world-class climber, particularly excelling in shorter stage races. Between 2018-2019, he finished second in the Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour of Catalonia, Tour of the Basque Country and the Critérium du Dauphiné. At the start of 2020, Yates won his first WorldTour stage race with the UAE Tour.

Yates also had a notable moment in one-day races. In 2015, he won a tumultuous edition of the Clasica San Sebastian. Greg Van Avermaet seemed poised for victory, but a motorbike knocked him off the road on the final climb. The then 22-year-old Brit took full advantage of the situation to claim victory.

Yates struggles with grand tours

While Yates has proven himself in stage races and one-day events, his performance in grand tours has been less consistent. In 2016, he impressively finished fourth in the overall classification of the Tour de France and won the young rider classification, suggesting a bright future in grand tours.

Despite his impressive performance in the Tour de France, Yates has found it challenging to replicate that success in later grand tours. Often entering these races with high hopes for a strong general classification, he has regularly lost considerable time to competitors on days when his performance dipped. His most notable result since the Tour de France was a ninth-place finish in the 2017 Giro d'Italia. Although he's been consistently strong in week-long stage races, Yates, during his time with Mitchelton-Scott, hadn't managed to secure a stage victory in any of the grand tours. In pursuit of a fresh start, he joined INEOS Grenadiers in 2020, thereby parting professional paths with his brother Simon.

With the British powerhouse team, he immediately won the UAE Tour before the cycling world came to a halt due to the  pandemic. Once racing resumed, he started as the team leader in the Tour de France, where he finished ninth. In 2021, Yates won the Tour of Catalonia and finished fourth in the Vuelta a España, rounding off his year with a third place in the Tour of Lombardy.

In 2022, Yates participated in the Tour de France once again, where he finished ninth. He gradually realized that winning grand tours as a team leader was becoming increasingly difficult and decided to move to UAE-Team Emirates, home to Tadej Pogacar. This change proved to be a wise decision: Yates won the Tour de Romandie, finished second in the Dauphiné, and even claimed victory in the opening stage of the Tour, ahead of his brother Simon. Despite working in support of team leader Pogacar, he still managed to finish third in the Tour, a feat he had not achieved as a team leader in previous years. Additionally, in the autumn of 2023, he also secured a win at the GP Montréal.