Name this rider. He’s one of only two Brits to win the Vuelta a España. He has finished in the top ten at the Tour de France twice, including fourth last year. He has been on the podium at the Giro d’Italia (in 2021) and is second behind only Mark Cavendish as the Brit with the most Giro stage victories.
He has already won a stage race this year. He has won more races than his twin brother: 34 versus 28. He has stuck with the same team since turning pro in 2014. He arguably does not receive the recognition he deserves. Welcome to the understated world of Simon Yates.
Season stalled
Cyclist catches up with 31-year-old Yates off the back of a strong start to the year that then hit the buffers through illness. He won the final stage of the AlUla Tour in February to claim the GC, and by doing so thoroughly satisfied the main sponsor of his team, Jayco-AlUla. That came after he finished seventh at the Tour Down Under in January.
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‘After AlUla, I came down with a virus that lingered for a long time,’ he says. ‘I was down for Tirreno-Adriatico but that was scrapped for a couple more weeks of rest. Instead it was Catalunya and then the Ardennes campaign.’
Yates looked under the weather as he finished 57th on GC in Catalunya. He then DNFed at the GP Miguel Induráin before his Ardennes ‘campaign’ comprised just Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he came 32nd.
It was an inauspicious spring for a rider aiming for a podium at the Tour de France in July. Still, Yates, who we discover is a man of science, can take comfort in a 2015 study entitled What Doesn’t Kill Me… that concluded athletes felt adversity provided the magic ingredient behind success, with repeated non-selection, a death of a family member, political unrest and injury variously deemed vital. Then again, there are further studies that show the maximal gain behind Olympic success is simply consistency of training. Yates is firmly a proponent of the latter.
‘For me, remaining injury-free is massive. Last year’s Tour de France was the first Grand Tour for a long time I hadn’t been ill or injured. I had Covid at two Grand Tours [Vuelta 2022 and Giro 2020], a knee injury at another [Giro 2022] and a crash at the Tour [2021]. If I can stay fit, I usually ride well.’
Overcoming his illness and cranking up fitness for the Grand Départ in Florence on 29th June will mainly play out away from the spotlight as, similar to 2023, Yates has no races planned after late April’s Tour de Romandie (at which this year he finished 11th).
‘Last year I found going from training camp to training camp worked well. Obviously this could change, but whatever happens you know it’s really not easy to perform at the Tour, especially with the field as it is.’
That field – depending on how various injuries heal – could include the Fab Four of Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar, Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel. It’s a daunting prospect but Yates is an experienced rider who knows that having all the focus on the four big names could play in his favour.
‘I can do similar to last year and take a bit of a back seat,’ Yates says. ‘No one’s really looking at me and I prefer that. The Tour is such a huge spectacle and there’s so much media coverage around it that it can begin to take its toll. You have the rest days, but you don’t really have a rest because there are press conferences. Still, those superstars of the peloton should take up a lot of the attention, and that’s good because all these things take you away from focussing on the bike. In that sense, I don’t mind being under the radar.’
Living the high life
As tactically astute as it may be to stay out of the limelight at Grand Tours, that’s not what Yates did on Stage 1 of the Tour de France last year. On a hilly 182km parcours around the Basque region, he joined his identical twin Adam on the descent of the final climb, the Côte de Pike. The brothers – riding for rival teams – entered the last kilometre with a few seconds’ advantage on a group that included Vingegaard and Pogačar. They worked together to stay ahead of the pack, but sibling sentimentality was forgotten in the final 300m as UAE Team Emirates rider Adam edged out his brother.
Simon Yates would finish second again on Stage 17, when Felix Gall soloed to victory, and then on a mountainous Stage 20 he stuck with Vingegaard and stage-winner Pogačar to secure fourth place in the GC.
Despite that, Yates’s exploits drew few column inches. Like his training-led approach, he flew under the radar. Did he feel under-appreciated?
‘Not at all. I was very happy with my performance. Still, I always think that if I’d won those two stages, I’d have beaten my brother to the podium and then it would be seen as a hugely successful Tour. I was just missing that little bit… which is why I’m not afraid to give it another shot.’
According to Yates, that ‘little bit’ might be about maintaining top-end, punchy power as time goes on.
‘As a climber, over the past year or two I’ve had really strong numbers when it comes to watts per kilo and also raw wattage. That’s across the board, from five to 60 minutes. But maybe I’ve lost the real top-end as the years have rolled by. But I’m working on it, and I have to because races are getting faster and faster.’
In search of that top end, Yates has changed his approach to training. He moved to Andorra in 2015, well before half the peloton gravitated to this tiny principality in the Pyrenees in search of rarefied air, smooth roads, a range of climbs and, no doubt, lower rates of income tax. That was only his second full season as a professional and he has been training high ever since, which is great for his blood profile and oxygen-carrying capacity but possibly less so for helping with post-race recovery.
‘When I first went there I moved straight up to altitude, so I was roughly training high all year round. That paid off to a degree but it also meant I’d return from a race and not enjoy sufficient recovery. Now I’m spending more time training at sea level to feel fresher as well as doing some really high-quality sessions day in, day out. I’ll then head higher for the key parts of the season. That’ll involve time in Sierra Nevada because you enjoy good heat there, which is what you’ll face at the Tour.’
Sierra Nevada is also good for hills, of which there are many at this year’s Tour de France. The race will visit five mountain ranges and there are seven mountain stages in all, with four summit finishes at Saint-Lary-Soulan, Plateau de Beille, Isola 2000 and Col de la Couillole. And in line with recent editions of the Tour, the first mountain stage comes very early, on Stage 4, including the Col du Galibier.
‘That’s good,’ says Yates. ‘We had a really tough start last year too, and I prefer to get stuck in straight away. I remember the Giro one year. You do these huge training camps and then you line up and you’re not really “racing” until the tenth stage. This suits me better. There are also two time-trials whereas last year there was only one. That suits me too. My time-trial’s really come on over the years.’
Last year, Yates finished fifth on Stage 16’s 22.4km time-trial into Combloux. He also won a time-trial on Stage 2 of the 2022 Giro. His performance against the clock is testament to his science-based approach to his job.
‘I enjoy the data side of things, looking at the graphs and seeing what’s good and what’s not. I’d say this has really skyrocketed since around 2018/2019 – the nutrition, the gear, positioning, every 1% is looked after. And I think that’s why you now see so much aggressive, hard racing throughout the entire year. But I enjoy it. I can see where I need to improve. Change is sometimes needed.’
Which brings us to Yates’s ten years at the same team.
Life on the Edge
It was on 9th February 2014 that Yates made his debut for then Orica-GreenEdge, finishing 104th at Trofeo Palma. He has since seen the team morph into Orica-Scott, Mitchelton-Scott, Team BikeExchange, BikeExchange-Jayco and finally Jayco-AlUla.
His brother, Adam, joined with him in 2014 but left for Ineos Grenadiers in 2021 before moving to UAE Team Emirates two years later, providing support for Pogačar. Would Simon consider leaving if an appealing opportunity came along?
‘I’d never say no to change, but I’ve not had the opportunity so far. In my career, no one has really come searching. But that’s fine. This team is great and they give me flexibility. They let me organise many of my own training camps and I can take my family, and dog, with me. I’m privileged.
‘They also give me an opportunity to race. When I joined the team they really wanted to develop the climbers and go for Grand Tours in general classification. I slowly worked my way up the tree, albeit a fair bit of pressure falls on my shoulders now. In the past we had Simon Gerrans, Daryl Impey, Esteban Chaves, my brother, all these guys who could win races and score UCI points. So there’s pressure now but I like our policy of bringing through the youth and letting them develop. The future looks strong.’
Yates is currently in contract talks as his expires at the end of the season. He’s relaxed about signing a new one and is confident that young riders such as Luke Plapp will drive the team forward. For now, his focus remains on the Tour, potentially followed by the Paris Olympics.
‘I’ve put my hand up for selection but I’m not entirely sure what happens next. But I would love to go. I raced Tokyo and it was an amazing experience. In fact, that was my dream growing up in Bury. I never even thought about racing the Tour de France, I just wanted to be an Olympian. That and having Manchester Velodrome nearby was how I ended up on the track. I wanted to do the points race but that stopped after Beijing, which was one of the reasons why I ended up changing to the road.’
It was a move that has reaped rewards for a decade, and which begs the question: when will Yates reach the end of his road?
‘When you turn 30, it’s always in the back of your mind. You think, how long can I do this for? What’s the motivation? But I’m still very motivated so I hope to go on for a lot longer yet.
‘What will I do afterwards? I haven’t really thought beyond racing but I doubt I’ll step into a management role. I don’t know if I have the wits for that. A lot of my race wins have been down to raw power rather than tactical nous.’
If he can find that power come July – and avoid illness and injury in the meantime – he could once again quietly go about upsetting the favourites at the Tour.
Simon’s successes
The riding life of Simon Yates
2010
On British Cycling’s Olympic Academy programme, Yates is selected as a support rider for the 2010
Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where he rooms with Chris Froome.
2013
Wins gold in the points race at the 2013 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Belarus. Also claims victory atop Haytor at the Tour of Britain.
2014
Along with brother Adam, Yates signs with WorldTour team Orica-GreenEdge. Makes Tour de France debut with only five days’ notice. He is withdrawn on the second rest day.
2015
Starts to realise stage race potential by finishing fifth at both the Tour of the Basque Country and Critérium du Dauphiné, winning the white jersey as best young rider in the latter.
2016
Finishes seventh at Paris-Nice, but tests positive for the banned substance terbutaline. Team take blame but four-month ban means he misses the Tour. Wins first Grand Tour stage at the Vuelta.
2017
Finishes seventh at the Tour de France and wins the young rider classification.
2018
Wears the race leader’s pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia for 13 stages, before finishing 21st. He then becomes only the second Brit (after Chris Froome) to win the Vuelta.
2019
Plays support to Adam at the Tour de France, but when his brother’s ambitions falter, he’s freed to go for stage wins, which he does with aplomb, winning two.
2020
First Brit to win Tirreno-Adriatico, ahead of Geraint Thomas in second.
2021
Finishes third at the Giro, winning one stage along the way.
2022
Wins two stages of the Giro but withdraws in the final week. Covid ruins chances of a second Vuelta title.
2023
Finishes second at the Tour Down Under, fourth at Paris-Nice and ninth at Tour of the Basque Country. Finishes fourth overall at the Tour de France.
2024
Wins Stage 5 and the overall at the AlUla Tour.
Yates on…
…riding in his home town of Bury, Lancashire
‘Once you’re ten minutes out of Bury you’re into some great riding with some stiff hills. You can ride across the border into Yorkshire. It was a great place to grow up as a bike rider as the Manchester Velodrome was close too.’
…time off the bike
‘I’m a big gamer and spend many hours unwinding via video games: FIFA, Call Of Duty, Battlefield, Forza… I’ll play literally anything.’
…running
‘I really enjoy running and enjoy banging out a 5k or 10k on the treadmill. I don’t run during the main season as there’s the chance of injury, but I’d like to run a marathon. My brother ran the Barcelona Marathon a few years back [in 2:58:08] and it’s something I’d like to do after cycling while I’m still fit.’
• This article originally appeared in issue 153 of Cyclist magazine. Click here to subscribe
