"I attacked quite early, but I knew I had to" - Adam Yates celebrates debut win with UAE Team Emirates

The UAE Tour ended at Jebel Hafeet, and for a fourth year in a row Adam Yates put in a blasting performance. He's returned to his winning ways, the first victory with UAE Team Emirates and an impressive performance.

“I really want to thank the team. They believed in me and trusted me. So this victory is for them. We wanted to go full throttle at the bottom of the final climb," Yates said in a post-race interview. After shedding time in the crosswinds on the opening day and the team time-trial, overall victory became a near impossible task. Yates looked good and Jebel Jais and promised to attack the queen stage, and UAE has quickly delivered.

Yates attacked first splitting the GC group, and then alone with Evenepoel he attacked once again with three kilometers to go. “I attacked quite early, but I knew I had to," he explains. The last one was decisive as the race leader could not follow, and Yates managed to turn around an until-then disappointing race.

"I am very happy to win. The goal was not to get on the podium, but to win the stage," he concluded. A strong performance in the head also saw Yates rise to third place in the overall classification, very narrowly managing to take over the position of Pello Bilbao.