"I was really not race ready" - Simon Yates explains slow his slow start to 2025 Tour de France

After such an impressive end to the Giro d'Italia as he won the Maglia Rosa, it is perhaps understandable that Simon Yates has experienced a slight hangover in the early stages of the 2025 Tour de France. Still though, having started the race as Team Visma | Lease a Bike's widely touted plan B for the GC, losing more than eight minutes on the first two days in far from ideal.

"I just had to blow the cobwebs out, let's call it," Yates admits honestly, when asked by ITV Sport at the start of stage 3, to explain his notably disappointing start to the Tour de France. "I was really not race ready."

With that being the case however, there is still the chance for Yates to ride himself into the race. "I was already feeling better yesterday (stage 2)," he assesses. "So hopefully, that trend continues!"

And whilst Yates obviously didn't intend to immediately lose so much time, he admits it didn't come totally as a surprise. "It's always tough trying to back up two Grand Tours. You never really and truly know how you are going to be. But yeah, like I said, I already felt better yesterday. So I'm not too worried about it now," the two-time Grand Tour winner explains. "I was a little worried on the first day, I won't lie! But yeah, now it's all okay."

"But to be honest, there's not really much for me to do at this point. I'm not one of those guys for really fast stages that are super technical and quite risky," Yates concludes, referencing his super domestique role for Jonas Vingegaard for the remainder of this Tour now. "I'm just biding my time now for when my terrain comes around, and yeah, then I'll be a help."