POLL: How will Simon Yates' GC challenge go at 2024 Tour de France?

Simon Yates is a former winner of the Vuelta a España and one of the best climbers of the late 2010's. Despite the emergence of a superior generation when it comes to climbers, the Briton raced to fourth place last year at the Tour de France, and is a contender once again for the podium this year.

The Briton leads Team Jayco AlUla into the Tour, with a team that like last year (almost literally, the same seven out of eight riders) supports much more the sprinters' ambitions. Yates will be riding together with Chris Harper in the mountains, but it's a formula that worked the last time around and the Australian team will have no pressure to be putting in work.

Yates has ridden to seventh at the Tour Down Under early in the year and then won the AlUla Tour - a big goal for the team. But throughout the spring he was then absent in terms of results. He has not raced since the Tour de Romandie, the same preparation as last year, which he is hoping will lead to the same level in the Tour's mountains.

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Yates, who will be heading to Team Visma | Lease a Bike next year, is an outsider for the overall classification but at age 31 he remains a very competitive climber, having been very consistent and strong last year, almost breaking into the podium for the first time in his career.

Team DS Tristan Hoffman said in a recent interview however that the Briton may be flexible, and change plans to stage hunting if the race does not start off as he wishes: "Normally we go all out for the rankings with Simon. Last year he finished fourth, so that says a lot. I'm pretty sure that this time too he is working towards riding a classification. On the other hand, a stage victory in the Tour can be just as important as, for example, finishing fifth in the battle for yellow. Let's just present both options to him."