Everything about Adam Yates

Who is Adam Yates? 

Adam Yates is a professional cyclist who races for UAE Team Emirates and is one of the best climbers of his generation. Winner of major stage-races such as the Volta a Catalunya, Tour de Suisse, Tour de Romandie and UAE Tour; alongside being a stage winner, yellow jersey wearer and podium finisher at the Tour de France, makes him one of the most prominent figures in British cycling.

Name: Adam Yates
Born: 7 August 1992
Place of birth: Bury, Great Britain
Turned pro: 2014
Height: 1.73m

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Adam Yates joined Jonas Vingegaard and teammate Tadej Pogacar at the podium of the 2023 Tour de France. @Sirotti

Adam Yates is a professional rider who races for UAE Team Emirates after having spent much of his career with the Orica GreenEDGE team where he turned pro in 2014 alongside his twin brother Simon. Both come from the UK and are not only twin brothers, but also extremely similar riders to the finest detail.

Unlike Simon, Adam hadn't been a very prominent track rider before turning pro, but he showed his true talent on the road. Adam spent his under-23 years in French teams and in 2013 he finished second on the Tour de l'Avenir - where his brother Simon won two stages, but didn't finish as high in the GC. Both signed with Orica GreenEdge in 2014 and there Adam proved to be the one who adapted the quickest, winning the queen stage and GC of the Tour of Turkey - his first pro wins. He would finish right after 5th at the Tour of California, 6th at the Criterium du Dauphiné, would win the GP Industria & Artigianato and made his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España.

In 2015 Adam would finish 9th at Tirreno-Adriatico, and made his Tour de France debut. Shortly after he won the Clásica San Sebastián, his first Would Tour victory. He would take a secondary calendar afterwards where he focused on the Canadian classics, coming second at the GP de Montréal as well as the Tour of Alberta. In 2016 Yates followed a build-up towards the Tour de France where he finished fourth in the overall classification at a young age - being in contention for the podium all the way, and winning the overall classification.

Come 2017 Yates would win the GP Industria & Artigianato early in the year, then finish 4th at the Volta a Catalunya. He was a podium contender at the Giro d'Italia and rode a consistent race, but a crash at the base of the Blockhaus saw him lose many minutes on stage 9 and ultimately he managed to ride himself to a 9th spot. He still finished 5th at the Tour de Pologne efore ending the season (not before a Vuelta a España presence).

In 2018 Yates would win a stage at Tirreno-Adriatico where he finished 5th, then was 4th at the Tour of California and 2nd at the Criterium du Dauphiné where he won the final stage and was the closest rival to Geraint Thomas. Yates couldn't contest the GC at the Tour de France but then went on to help his brother Simon Yates to win the Vuelta a España. 2019 was a completely different season however, winning a stage at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana still in February; then finishing second at Tirreno-Adriatico and Volta a Catalunya, and fifth at Itzulia Basque Country - winning a stage in both Spanish races. He briefly led the Criterium du Dauphiné but abandoned the race on the final day whilst in second place, and then cracked out of contention at the Tour de France once again. He would bounce back to win the Cro Race late in the year.

In 2020 Yates won the World Tour-level UAE Tour before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and then soared to peak form at the Tour de France afterwards. He spent 4 days in the yellow jersey before being overtaken by his rivals, but hung on to finish 9th in the GC. But aiming for new challenges, he signed with Team Sky at the end of the year, which proved to be a very fruitful decision. Yates started 2021 with a second place at the UAE Tour but a month later won a mountain stage at the Volta a Catalunya where he also won the overall classification. He focused on the Vuelta a España late in the year where he rode to a fourth place, but kept his streak of good form into the end of the season where he still finished on the podium of Milano-Torino and Il Lombardia. 

In 2022 he would finish second once again at the UAE Tour, 4th at Paris-Nice, and then 9th at the Tour de France. He did come back to his winning ways at the Deutschland Tour where he won a stage and overall classification, and then finished on the Top10 of the Canadian classics and Il Lombardia. But he wanted another change, and signed with UAE Team Emirates where he took yet another step. He began 2023 with yet another prime performance at the UAE Tour where he won the stage to Jebel Hafeet and finished third in the GC. Later in the spring he would win again at the Tour de Romandie, a stage and GC win... And at the Criterium du Dauphiné he finished second behind Jonas Vingegaard.

At the Tour de France he won stage 1 after an attack with rival but twin brother Simon in Bilbao... Yates put on the performance of his career to win the stage and take on the yellow jersey which he held for several days. He would lose it on stage 5, and despite being on a domestique role for Tadej Pogacar, his climbing performances were so strong that he ended up joining the 'big two' on the podium of the Grand Boucle. Later in the year, he would still go on to win the GP de Montréal and finish 6th at Il Lombardia.

In 2024 Yates won the Tour of Oman but then crashed out and suffered a concussion at the UAE Tour where he was the main favourite for the GC win. It took a while for him to get back to top form, but he did so in June where he won two stages and the overall classification at the Tour de Suisse where he and teammate João Almeida dominated the race. Yates once again rode in support of Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France, contributing to the overall win whilst getting himself to finish in 6th spot. He was rather inconsistent at the Vuelta a España where he was a contender for a top result, but after joining the day's breakaway he won the brutal stage into Granada on day 9.