Keep an eye on Yates brothers at Tour of Britain MyZA

Simon Yates. Photo: Bryn Lennon / Getty Images

As the Tour of Britain heads into its two toughest stages, keep a look out for the young guns on the Great Britain team, and particularly for the Yates brothers, who made such an impact at the Tour de L’Avenir earlier this month.

Double L’Avenir stage-winner Simon has his sights set on a top ten finish in London on Sunday, while twin brother Adam, runner-up at the L’Avenir, is relishing the prospect of Friday’s summit finish at Haytor in Devon.

World points race champion Simon admitted to a bit of disappointment following his time trial performance in Knowsley, where he dropped from second overall to 11th, but insisted he’s not out of the GC battle yet.

“I came here with the GC in the back of my mind, but knew I would lose quite a bit in this test,” he told Cyclingnews.

“There are some quite hilly days coming up and I could show myself there. I went quite well on the Caerphilly stage last year, but there are some good guys here – (Nairo) Quintana, Dan Martin, so it’s a bit of a tall order.”

Adam Yates, who races for the same CC Étupes club that produced Vuelta a España stage-winners Warren Barguil and Kenny Elissonde, said his Tour of Britain experience hasn’t been as positive thanks to a crash coming off the Honister Pass in the Lake District on Monday.

“My bike broke on the descent off the Honister – it snapped clean after I hit a hole. I went straight into a fence and into a woman at about 60k an hour and lost 30 minutes,” he said.

“There are still some good stages ahead for me. I’ve got my eye on that stage in Devon, although Simon could make the top ten and I will work for him. But, because he’s my brother, he’ll let me have a bit of a freedom if I’m feeling good. I reckon that stage is going to be a really savage one, but I’ll have a good crack at it.” – Cyclingnews

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