Bury's Adam Yates hails ‘special’ Tour de France podium

Adam Yates enjoyed a “special” experience back on the Tour de France podium after securing his best ever Grand Tour finish in Paris.

The UAE Team Emirates man finished safely on the final stage to confirm his third place overall as Jonas Vingegaard defended his title and Yates’ team-mate Tadej Pogacar came in second.

Yates finished fourth in the 2016 Tour, also getting on the podium that year as the best young rider in the race, and was also fourth at the 2021 Vuelta.

“It’s really special,” Yates said. “This is my best Grand Tour finish. I’ve been fourth twice, once at the Tour and once in the Vuelta but to go one step better for me personally is very nice.

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“The goal was always to try and win yellow (with Pogacar) but it’s not easy over three weeks to stay consistent. We only had one bad day as a team and there was only one guy better than us so we can’t complain.

“We had a couple of stage wins along the way so overall it’s been a successful three weeks.”

One of those stage wins belonged to Yates, who beat twin brother Simon on the opening day in Bilbao to enjoy four days in the yellow jersey.

Although Simon rides for rival team Jayco-Alula, the Bury-born pair were effectively working together again on Saturday’s final mountain stage as they paced back up to a lead group, with Adam then helping Pogacar sprint to a stage win.

“It’s been super special,” Adam said of competing alongside Simon. “The first day was a fantastic experience for me and Simon. I managed to edge him out in the final so it was really nice for me and not so much for him, but he’s been super strong in the last three weeks so he’ll come back fighting.”

Satu