“My job is to defend the jersey” – Adam Yates hoping to ruin Simon’s Giro d’Italia dreams

The Giro d’Italia has seen plenty of tactical battles and surprise storylines, but Stage 19 brings with it a familiar twist of family drama. As the race enters its decisive Alpine showdown, Simon Yates sits third overall, just 51 seconds behind the maglia rosa of UAE Team Emirates – XRG’s Isaac Del Toro. Chasing glory. Hunting pink. And in his way? His twin brother.

Adam Yates, ninth overall and more than seven minutes down on his teammate, may be out of the GC picture, but not out of the narrative. In fact, the Brit’s role is now clear: help Del Toro win the Giro, even if that means keeping his own brother off the top step in Rome.

“Oh, that's not difficult at all,” Adam joked in an interview with Sporza. “Simon will have told you, but if it happens, we always talk about it. We are and will remain close and we talk to each other every day.”

The relationship between the Yates brothers has always been defined by mutual respect, and competition too. But rarely have their trajectories collided with so much on the line. For Simon, this Giro is a shot at redemption, he famously led the 2018 edition with apparent ease before cracking in the final week and watching Chris Froome ride away with the title. Now, nearly seven years later, he’s once again in touching distance.

Adam, meanwhile, is one of Del Toro’s trusted road captains at UAE. He’s working not just for a teammate, but a potential future leader of the sport. The tension? It’s there, but with a grin.

“I’m happy he's doing very well. As a rival he's a pain in the ass now, but it’s good for him and for me,” Adam said. “He looks good, but maybe he's not as explosive as the two guys in front of him. But Simon is good on the long climbs. Maybe this day suits him better.”

Stage 19, with its long climbs and testing gradients, may be Simon Yates’ last real chance to close the gap. Adam knows it too. And while they talk every day, there are no favours exchanged between brothers in a Grand Tour battle.

“Do we talk on the rides? Always!” Adam laughed. “I always ask him what his tactics are, but he never tells me.”

“No, it's not an exact science,” Adam continued. “We're racing and he has to make up time. My job is to defend the jersey.”