"We just go as hard as possible for him and then off he goes" Adam Yates explained how stage 19 had been planned since June and how he saw the race play out 🇬🇧 #TDF2024
"I was going full gas and I heard from behind; 'more, more, more'" - Adam Yates buries himself in service of Tadej Pogacar on stage 19 of 2024 Tour de France
CyclingSaturday, 20 July 2024 at 10:46
Tadej Pogacar is set to reclaim the Maillot Jaune after two successive years being the runner up at the Tour de France. In his latest display of dominance, the UAE Team Emirates leader burned the likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel off his back wheel on the slopes of Isola 2000 to take his 4th stage win of the race on stage 19.
One of those men who played a key role in setting up the move, was Pogacar's right hand man, Adam Yates. "From about stage 15 or so, I've had a bit of an illness," Yates begins in conversation with ITV Sport post-stage. "I'm not sure exactly what it is but there's a lot of guys in the peloton who are sick. So I've been suffering the last few days."
There was no real sign of weakness from Yates on stage 19 however, as the Brit set an infernal pace on the front of the peloton before pulling over to the side and allowing his team leader to his thing. "Today I just did my job," assesses Yates, who sits 7th overall in his own right. "We knew the climb pretty well, we did a training camp after the Tour de Suisse and yeah, I did a really hard pull for as long as I could and then started flicking some elbows."
Jonas Vingegaard had been expected to launch a 'Hail Mary' move on stage 19, but that never materialised. "When you send guys up the road, normally you're planning something," Yates says of Team Visma | Lease a Bike's tactics. "But I guess you never know. You've also got to have legs and the gap can't be too big or you'll be left on your own. They did a good race."
"Tadej said on the bus he wanted to attack on the steep section just before the tunnel," Yates continues. "I was going full gas to there and then finally I heard from behind; 'more, more, more'. I tried to sprint but I didn't have much left at that point, so yeah, off he went."
Pogacar then hunted down lone leader Matteo Jorgenson, giving Team Visma | Lease a Bike a double dose of disappointment. "Tadej has shown in the last few mountain days he's really in good shape and we know that if we can do a good pace, he can attack and do his crazy power, crazy pace," Yates concludes. "We just go as hard as possible for him and then off he goes."
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