Adam Yates says his "track record speaks for itself" as he targets decisive UAE Tour attack on Jabel Hafeet

With four podium finishes in his four previous visits to the UAE Tour, including overall victory in 2020, Adam Yates leads the UAE Team Emirates team at their home stage race full of confidence this time around.

Despite a crash marred finale on stage 1, Yates safely navigated his way to the finish line without incident or time loss. “We’re coming here with a strong team and confidence," he said at his pre-race press conference. “With Jay Vine, this is going to be the first race of his season, but it's usually a race that suits him well, so we actually have three options. We have Brandon McNulty here, who obviously won in Valenciana as well, so we have options and it should be a good week.”

With the UAE Tour a big target of UAE Team Emirates, there is extra pressure on a positive performance this week. "It’s obviously a super important race for the team and I enjoy coming here," says Yates. "Last year we started with the crosswinds stage and it was a pretty big shock to the system, so I asked to do Oman as a warm-up race and obviously that went pretty well."

And given his past record of impressive performances on the key feature of the race - the climb of Jabel Hafeet - Yates is quietly confident of mounting another GC challenge. "In Europe, it’s usually multiple climbs before, and over here it’s pan-flat and straight into it. That suits me down to the ground," he says of her prior success. "To be honest, it’s not a perfect climb for me. Right at the top it flattens off and you still have the little dip right in the final. So it’s not the perfect climb for me but obviously, the track record speaks for itself, I’ve had some good performances and hopefully this year we can also perform at a high level."