"I couldn’t do that anymore" - Adam Yates goes to the absolute limit to win Tour de Suisse

Adam Yates built on his Tour de Suisse win at the Gotthard Pass. The UAE Team Emirates rider has conquered the overall classification of the World Tour event ahead of the Tour de France: but only with a few seconds over teammate João Almeida who took him to the limit.

“It’s definitely one of the nicer wins of my career," Yates said in a post-race interview. After several days of winning time and taking wins, UAE had the certainty it'd win the overall classification, but only 31 seconds separated the two. Almeida put in a strong start and threatened Yates' win. In the final climb however the Briton put in a brilliant effort to limit the losses and take his second GC win of the season.

"With two kilometres to go I wasn’t sure I could keep my lead in the general classification. I heard the time gaps with João and knew he was going to accelerate, I couldn’t do that anymore. I was at my limit so I tried to keep my speed. Luckily that was enough.”

Yates lost only 9 seconds on the final time-trial of the race, and he climbed to the top step of the race - with two stage wins also in the bag. “I’m still out of breath, it was a really tough time-trial. Something that I had in my head for a long time was that I lost by one second during the final time trial of Tirreno-Adriatico in 2019. That’s been on my mind for a long time, so it’s great to finally win a stage race with a final time trial."

After finishing third at the Tour de France last year, this victory comes in as a big motivating factor for Yates who could aim for a similar or even better result this July - where UAE enter as the favourites to win the race.

“At the time of the crash (at the UAE Tour, where he suffered a concussion, ed.I didn’t know how long it would take to come back. Luckily it didn't last too long, I'm very grateful for that. Although winning a race always feels good. And sharing the podium with João makes it even more special."