Adam Yates is never one to mince words, but less than a month after helping his UAE Team Emirates team-mate Tadej Pogacar win the Tour de France, the Briton says he is optimistic about taking on the Vuelta a Espana, has his eye on the possibility of winning the overall title in Spain and is realistic about what he can achieve.
“There’s less pressure in the Vuelta because, first of all, you don’t know what your level is,” Yates told Cycling News during the countdown to the start in Lisbon, where he co-leaders UAE Team Emirates alongside local rider Joao Almeida.
“We didn’t have much time to prepare or do a training camp. I might get good numbers in training, but I don’t know how they will turn out in the race.”
“There was a week between the Giro and the Tour, but now there are less than four weeks between the Tour and the Vuelta. Those riders who didn’t do the Tour but had a special training plan for here might have a bit of an advantage. So it will be a difficult situation.”
“Either way, the time trial on Saturday will give us a bit of an idea of how the guys are doing and then Stage 4 (the first mountaintop finish of the 2024 race) will really give us an idea of what to expect.”
Yates said that because of the short time between Grand Tours he had just a week off after Nice, followed by two weeks training at home in Andorra, but “that was it.”
“My house isn’t at high altitude, it’s not that high, but the roads were good and the training was good, even if it was a little hotter than I would have liked. But I did my best and we’ll see how well what I do pays off here.”
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The relative ease of the first week of the Vuelta compared to the Tour de France may allow the 32-year-old to get closer to his more consistent top form without facing too many challenges along the way, but aside from a mountaintop finish on Stage 4 and an unexpectedly tough trek through the mountains of southwest Spain on Stage 6, “the main problem in this first part could be the heat,” he said.
“It’s still hot,” he noted in an interview with Cycling News on Friday afternoon, as temperatures in Lisbon reached the mid- to upper 30s. “I’ve seen the weather forecast for the first week and it looks like it’s going to be tough. So we’re just going to do our best, take it one day at a time and try not to make any mistakes.”
His best result at the Vuelta a Espana to date is fourth place in 2021, and Yates also won the Tour de Vuelta double in 2018. But perhaps the only commonality between that 2018 Tour de Vuelta experience and the Adam Yates of 2024 is that he also supported his teammate to the overall victory in one of the two Grand Tours six years ago.
“This was a long time ago when I was at GreenEdge,” Yates recalls. “Simon [Yates’ brother and then teammate at GreenEdge – Ed.] I won the Vuelta so it felt a bit different.
“I raced in California and won a stage in the Dauphiné, but then I made a change to my equipment just before the Tour and that downgrade had a big impact on me in the race.
“Then I went back to my original sponsor and of course Simon got the job done at the Vuelta. I had a bit of a break the first week of the race and then in the third week I helped him out on some stages in Andorra and completed the job.”
Climbers plan to work together
Portugal’s Joao Almeida and Great Britain’s Adam Yates ride ahead of UAE Team Emirates teammate and Tour de France overall leader Tadej Pogacar (Image by Tim de Waere/Getty Images)
Six years on, Adam Yates and Almeida will have a chance to win the overall title at the Vuelta a Espana after helping Pogacar win the Grand Tour this July. Rather than cruising through the first week in Portugal and southern Spain, as they did in 2018, Yates will this time be thrust into the spotlight alongside his Portuguese teammate and co-leader Pogacar.
“We worked really well together at the Tour de Swiss. [which Yates won ahead of Almeida – Ed.] Of course I had a different role at the Tour but I did a really good job there too,” the Briton said at a press conference on Friday.
“In general, we have different climbing styles but we complement each other well. I like to attack quite early, while Joan goes at his own pace and then catches up at the end. A lot depends on who pulls on the climbs, but we’ve shown that we can work well together and we’ll definitely be able to do that in this race.”
“Expectations-wise, we don’t have any particular position we’re aiming for. We just want to do our best and results will be results. We’re in good shape and we’ve shown that all year, so if one of us can be at the top and compete for wins, that’ll be great.”
“Even if there is a small question of which of us will win, I don’t think it matters at all,” Almeida added at the same news conference. “We just need to focus on the other candidates.”
At least initially, when it comes to his rivals, the two men said three-time champion Primoz Roglic would be a key reference point, even though the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe leader has said he’s still in pain from his Tour de France accident and lingering injuries. But neither Yates nor Almeida were convinced Roglic was being completely honest about his underlying condition.
“He always says he’s 80 per cent and then he gives you a minute or a minute and a half,” Yates said when asked about Roglic’s concerns. “He’s definitely going to play well, otherwise I don’t think he’d be here.”
“When I chat with Primoz during the race, he always says, ‘Yeah, I’m not that good,'” Almeida agreed. “And then I win a stage.”
Regardless of Roglic’s condition, Almeida remains highly motivated, saying: “This is probably the only time in my career that a Grand Tour will start in my home country. The support is already amazing so I’m sure the next few days will be difficult too. I’m very grateful for everything.”
The Vuelta victory marks Almeida’s first career Grand Tour victory.
“We’re not in the best preparation, but we feel good, we’re confident and we’re going to try and do everything we can to win. We have a great team behind us and a lot of cards at our disposal. Anything can happen. We’ll just control what we can control, give it our all and see how far we can go.”
Of course, the most impressive outcome would be for either Yates or Almeida to win the Vuelta a Espana, allowing UAE Team Emirates to follow Visma’s 2023 course and win all three Grand Tours in one season.
“It’s a good goal, isn’t it? It’s easy on paper, but not so easy in reality. Maybe it would be easier if Tadej was here,” he added with a laugh.
“No, there is some pressure to win, but in the end we will do our best. It’s not enough. We will give everything we can at every stage and hopefully come out on top in Madrid.”
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