Great Britain’s Adam Yates put together two world-class performances in the mountains of Italy to catapult himself to six overall at Tirreno Adriatico, on a weekend which saw British riders bag top ten finishes in France and the Netherlands.

Yates asserted himself first on Saturday on stage four from Indicatore to Castelraimondo, finishing 14 seconds behind solo winner Wout Poels, in an elite group containing Rigoberto Uran, Joaquim Rodriguez, Alberto Contador and Bauke Mollema.

Sunday saw the race hit the high mountains with a summit finish at Terminillo and the 22-year-old from Bury once again finished with the world’s best amid a snowstorm, placing seventh and raising himself to sixth place overall with two stages to go.

The result saw the Orica Greenedge rider replace Steve Cummings as the highest placed British rider on general classification, Cummings lying in third after Saturday’s stage but dropping to ninth on Sunday.

The weekend also saw the conclusion of Paris-Nice, with Geraint Thomas rounding out a strong performance with seventh place in the mountain time trial at Col d’Aze.

Thomas managed 21 minutes and two seconds for the 9.6-kilometre ascent against the clock, 39 seconds down on teammate Richie Porte, who took the stage and with it his second Paris-Nice victory.

The Welshman’s effort was good enough for fifth place overall, 41 seconds behind Porte and helped Team Sky claim the team classification.

Sir Bradley Wiggins, who had been far from his best throughout the eight-day event, did not contest the final stage.

British riders were in action in the Netherlands with a double bill of one-day racing at the Ronde van Drenthe.

Lizzie Armitstead got her UCI Women’s Road World Cup title defence up and running with seventh place on Saturday, with the sprint win and early world cup lead going to Belgian national road race champion Jolien d’Hoore.

Armitstead finished three seconds back on the d’Hoore group after a tough 138.3 kilometres of racing starting and finishing at Hoogeveen, featuring three cobbled sectors and the VAMberg climb.

Britain’s Scott Thwaites took the first of two fifth place finishes in the men’s edition of the race, the Bora-Argon 18 rider contesting a five way sprint after 197.9 kilometres, won by Belgian Edward Thuens.

Scott notched up a second fifth place a day later at the Energiewacht Dwars door Drenthe, this time in a bunch sprint, the win going to Italian Manuel Belletti.