"I was breaking power records left, right, and centre and still not winning": Adam Yates illustrates the rapid growth of level in peloton

The sport of cycling is becoming increasingly fast-paced in recent years. In practice, that means that power numbers that would've comfortably won you a Grand Tour a decade ago would not suffice even for a top-10 contender in 2026. On one side, that puts great expectations on the young talents coming through. And on the other, it's incredibly difficult for more experienced riders to keep up with the rapid progress of the peloton.

Adam Yates is witnessing this evolution first-hand. In his first year at UAE, he podiumed the Tour de France behind Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar. Now, just a couple years later, his numbers are even better than in 2023. Yet it's hardly enough to stay as competitive as the 33-year-old would love to be.

"Even last year, I think it broke most of my power efforts. I'd say it was one of my worst years, but I was the best I've ever been in terms of power," Yates told Cyclingnews.

With varying roles across the season, it may not be clearly visible when was the level simply too high for Yates, and when his form dipped a bit, but even at his best, the Briton often struggle to find himself at the top of the feeding chain. "OK, I really struggled in the Giro, and obviously helped Tadej in the Tour, but other than that, I was breaking power records left, right, and centre and still not winning, so take that as you will."

It's not super clear whether it's the added pressure of UCI rankings, the eagerness of young riders or just coming of age, but the races where you could arrive at 80% and still compete for a victory have become extremely sparse for Yates.

"The big difference I'm seeing is that everyone is just full gas from the start of the year. I remember going back a couple of years, and my level wasn't super high at the UAE Tour, but I was still up there on the podium."

"Every year it's getting harder and harder to win races, and even these races now at the start of the year, the level is super, super high, even in Oman I was doing power records, left, right, and centre and there's still guys in the wheel and a lot of guys still fighting, so it's just getting harder and harder."

Where Yates notices a massive shift is the ability to collect, analyze and apply a wide range of data; either in trainings or respectively in races.

"A lot of the young guys, well, they know more than me, to be honest. Obviously, maybe they don't have the experience, but in the grand scheme of things, they know most things," said Yates.

"These days, I think you see a lot of juniors coming through and under-23s coming through, and their levels are already like crazy, crazy high. There was a big jump at the beginning of the 2020s, with everyone getting more professional, more focused, even now people are doing altitude in the off-season and not really having off-seasons, and rethinking what is normal in bike riding."