Adam's Profile

Biography

Yates was introduced to the sport by his cycling father John who took Adam and twin brother Simon to Manchester Velodrome to ride with his club Bury Clarion as youngsters. The pair quickly improved, with Clarion and local junior track team Eastlands Velo, before Adam took the decision to pursue a professional road career in France, helped by support from the Dave Rayner Fund.

After two years with the UVCA Troyes amateur team and a further one with CC Etupes, Yates enjoyed his first breakout performance at the 2013 Tour de l’Avenir, riding for a Great Britain team, in which he finished second on general classification, just 55 seconds behind Ruben Fernandez of Spain. His performances on the French amateur scene earned him his first professional contract, along with brother Simon, with Orica GreenEDGE for 2014 with the youngster finishing 11th overall and winning the young rider classification on his professional debut, at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina.

In a busy spring schedule, Yates recorded a stunning victory at the Tour of Turkey, a stage race for which he and his brother had been designated as the team’s protected riders for general classification. Simon crashed out of the race on stage three, a day on which Adam finished second and moved up to second on general classification, and a stunning victory on a mountain day on stage 6 moved Adam into a race lead he held until the final stage in Istanbul.

A fifth place overall at the Tour of California and sixth at the Criterium du Dauphine was followed by his first professional one-day victory at the GP Industria & Artigianato in Italy. Having been rested for the Tour de France by his team, Yates was still able to make his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta where he finished the Spanish race 82nd overall.

Strong performances at Tirreno-Adriatico and the Criterium du Dauphine earned Yates his first Tour de France call-up in 2015, finishing in the top ten on two mountain stages and 50th overall before he took his biggest victory to date, beating a strong field at the Clasica de San Sebastian.

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