“I’m just looking forward to getting stuck in” - Simon Yates looks to take the challenge to the big teams in 2024

Unlike other Grand Tour GC contenders, who tend to begin their seasons in February or March, Simon Yates has already completed his first race of the year at the Tour Down Under. With the Jayco AlUla rider set to be on the start line of the AlUla Tour only a week after finishing racing in Australia, one might think that this heavy racing load so early on in the season is sponsor-driven.

However, in an interview with GCN at the Tour Down Under, Yates stated that “I enjoyed starting the season last year here, there is a lot of pressure here as well and I assume also once we get to Saudi Arabia, so we’ll see how that goes, but I’m just looking forward to getting stuck in”.

The British rider’s main objective for this season will be the Tour de France, where he finished fourth overall last year. Given his strong result in 2023, Yates plans to do a similar programme in the build up to this year’s race, with the addition of a few Ardennes Classics instead of the Tour de Romandie.

Yates will once again be up against the likes of Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France this year, but without the support behind him that some of the big teams have, he is at a constant disadvantage. In his interview, Yates said “not even just in the big races, you go to any smaller race now and these super teams field a team that could win stages in Grand Tours, podium in Grand Tours, and that's just a really small race that's not really important”.

At 31 years old, Yates is a Grand Tour veteran having ridden 15 three-week races over the course of his decade-long career in the WorldTour. He therefore has a pretty good perspective on how racing has changed at the top level over the last few years, stating that “the sport is changing and it's really improved, it's getting faster and harder every year and you can't be left behind”.