Simon Yates (cyclist)

Simon Yates (born 7 August 1992) is a British road and track racing cyclist and twin brother of Adam Yates. He currently competes for the Orica–Scott team.

Early career

Yates in 2012

Simon and Adam took up cycling after their father John was injured in a collision with a car while riding – during his recovery he took the twins to Manchester Velodrome to track sessions run by his cycling club, Bury Clarion, to keep in touch with the other members. Both brothers soon started riding on the road for Bury Clarion and on the track for Eastlands Velo. At the age of 18 Simon was selected by British Cycling for its Olympic Academy programme. He was also selected for the England team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where his room-mate was Chris Froome.

He won the gold medal in the points race at the 2013 Track World Championships.

Simon made his breakthrough on the road in 2013 riding for the British national team. Along with brother Adam, he competed at the 2013 Tour de l'Avenir for the Great Britain national team, where Simon won the race's fifth stage, ahead of Adam. Simon added another stage victory the following day, and finished the race tenth overall.

He was then selected as part of the British national team to take part in the Tour of Britain. He competed well throughout the race and on stage six he took his biggest win to date, sprinting clear of a nine-man group at the finish, which included Bradley Wiggins and Nairo Quintana. Yates finished third overall in the Tour of Britain, and was the best rider in the under-23 classification.

The brothers are not related to retired British cyclist Sean Yates.

Orica–GreenEDGE (2014–present)

Yates at the 2014 Tour de France

Yates along with his brother joined the Australian UCI World Tour team Orica–GreenEDGE in 2014. He finished 12th Overall in one of his first World Tour races, the Tour of the Basque Country. Yates suffered a broken collarbone on Stage 3 of the Tour of Turkey. He recovered to take seventh overall and the Young Riders Classification in the Tour of Slovenia in June. He was a surprise selection for the Orica Greenedge team for the 2014 Tour de France, with only 5 days notice, and was one of only 4 British riders to take to the Grand Depart startline in Leeds. Yates featured in two breakaways during his Grand Tour debut, before being withdrawn by his team on the second rest day.

In April 2015 Yates finished fifth overall in the Tour of the Basque Country. Later that month he rode the Tour de Romandie and placed sixth overall. In June 2015 Yates finished fifth overall in the Critérium du Dauphiné after finishing second behind Chris Froome on the final stage, a summit finish at Modane. By doing so Yates also won the White Jersey as best young rider.

He was again selected for the 2015 Tour de France, this time alongside his brother Adam. Simon placed eighth on Stage 3, which finished on the Mur de Huy, and eleventh on Stage 20, the queen stage of the race finishing on Alpe d'Huez.

In April 2016 it emerged that Yates had tested positive for the banned substance terbutaline in an in-competition test during Paris–Nice the previous month, where he finished seventh overall. In a statement Orica-GreenEDGE took full responsibility for the test result, saying that the team's doctor had failed to apply for a therapeutic use exemption for an asthma inhaler used by Yates which triggered the positive test. Subsequently, the UCI issued a statement indicating that Yates would not be provisionally suspended from competition due to the substance he had tested positive for. On 17 June, the UCI decided to issue a four-month ban for "non intentional doping", backdated from 12 March (the date the positive sample was collected), preventing Yates from competing at the 2016 Tour de France. He was named in the startlist for the 2016 Vuelta a España. In stage 6 Yates, seeing an opportunity, escaped from a breakaway group to win a solo stage victory - the first of the Yates brothers to take a Grand Tour stage victory.

Major results

Track

Road

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2014	2015	2016
Giro d'Italia	—	—	—
Tour de France	WD	89	—
Vuelta a España	—	—	6

Major stage race general classification results timeline

Race	2014	2015	2016
Paris–Nice	44	29	DSQ
Tirreno–Adriatico	—	—	—
Volta a Catalunya	—	—	—
Tour of the Basque Country	11	5	DNF
Tour de Romandie	—	6	—
Critérium du Dauphiné	—	5	—
Tour de Suisse	—	—	—