"Know what we have to do to support Tadej" - Adam Yates keeps Tour de France victory expectations modest

UAE Team Emirates have revealed their lineup for the Tour de France this Friday morning and it includes all eight riders that were initially planned to race the Grand Boucle. A big part of this plan to win the race revolves around Adam Yates who was on the podium last year and has recently won the Tour de Suisse.

Yates put in the Grand Tour of his life last year, winning the first stage in Bilbao and putting on the yellow jersey after an attack with his twin brother Simon; Leading the race for several days, and finished third in the overall classification - his first podium in a three-week race - despite having in Tadej Pogacar the team leader. He performed flawlessly in his role, and so was an obvious choice to return this year. After a chaotic spring hampered by a concussion suffered at the UAE Tour, the Briton rode to victory at the Tour de Suisse, where he and his teammate João Almeida were a step above the competition.

“I think as a group we’re in a really good place and know what we have to do to support Tadej," Yates said in words shared by the team, keeping his ambitions controlled despite the great form and the team's role in the race. "We’re aiming for the win and we know if things go our way it’s possible so it’s just a matter of staying focused and pulling together all the way to Nice.”

Together with Almeida, Pogacar and also Juan Ayuso, UAE will definitely have the strongest team in the mountains if nothing weird happens and may want to attack the race right from the first day; as the team's main rival Jonas Vingegaard will have spent by that time almost three months without competing and form will definitely be a question.

Yates himself is a strong contender for the overall victory taking into consideration Tadej Pogacar's season so far (as we have discussed), but he talks only of his teammate in the press release shared by the team. He is currently in Isola 2000 with the Tour's block, putting in the final touches before the Grand Depart.

Pogacar confirmed this to be the current situation in the team: "We’ve spent a lot of time together as a group training at altitude and put in a lot of hours in the saddle. We’re in a really good place as a group and I think now we just can’t wait to get started and hope to fight for the win and put on a good show.”