Adam Yates using Tour de Suisse as final test before Tour de France

Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) is racing the Tour de Suisse as part of his build-up to the Tour de France but the British climber is targeting a GC result in the week-long stage race as he leads a relatively inexperienced but talented team.

The 31-year-old finished third in the Tour de France twelve months ago and won the Tour of Oman earlier this year. The Tour de Suisse is peppered with high mountain stages, bread and butter for Yates, and after a recent jaunt at altitude, he’s ready to race.

“Things are going well. We just came down from Sierra Nevada, and pretty much the Tour de France team was there,” Yates told GCN just before taking 25th in the opening prologue on Sunday.

“The training there went well and morale is good, and that’s the most important thing. Every time I go to a race I want to put in a good ride, and Suisse is a good opportunity. There are a lot of stages that suit me quite well. We have the small prologue, where I’ll lose some time but then it’s about staying out of trouble and waiting for the mountains. I think that it will be good. We have a super strong team here, and a lot of young guys but they have a lot of power,” Yates added.

The British rider usually spends June at the Critérium du Dauphiné where he finished second in 2023. However, this year’s schedule fell nicely with Suisse and the route at hand.

“I’ve been to the Dauphiné a couple of times and done really well but when you look at the parcours of Suisse this year it suits me quite well. There are a couple of steep climbs in the final and that’s something that I’m quite good at these days. When I spoke to the team at the start of the year we left it quite open until the course came out and when Suisse was announced it was felt that it was the better race for me. So here I am.”

The UAE Team Emirates squad for Switzerland is stacked with talent and includes Isaac del Toro, Jan Christen, Finn Fisher-Black, João Almeida, and Marc Hirschi. Overall, it’s a young team, even if their firepower is formidable.

“Like I said, we’ve got a lot of young guys. I think that I’m the oldest by about 10 years, and I’m the one with the most experience but we’ve got a lot of strong guys. Joao is here and he was up at altitude with me and we’ve got Marc who is always good for a stage win. Jan has shown great form recently, Del Torro, Finn Fisher, pretty much everyone is super, super strong and we have options. Hopefully, we can do something there.”

Read more: GCN's official Tour de Suisse preview

With so much depth within the roster, it’s likely that UAE Team Emirates will be ushered into the position of controlling the race, especially if they take the lead early on or are within touching distance of the yellow jersey ahead of the mountains.

“Every race we go to these days we’re looked at and everyone expects us to work. We’ll try and build into the race and then see what happens in the mountains.”

Overall, Yates is in fine fettle after his block of training at altitude. The next week will give a clear indication of this condition ahead of the Tour de France. 

"Training is always different to racing, and I say this often because you can feel super in training and then it’s different when you start racing but the camp went super well. The weather was really good and that helps. Last year I was second in the Dauphiné with a similar build-up and preparation. Hopefully, I’ll be in a similar place. There’s no real pressure coming into this race from the team. We’ll do our best and try and perform at 100 per cent,” he said.

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