Tour de France: Yates makes no claims after coup

After his coup at the start of the 110th Tour de France, Adam Yates is not dreaming of overall victory. "I'm staying on the ground. I'm here for Tadej, he's the boss," said the Briton after his victory on the first stage in Bilbao.

In the UAE team, Yates is planned as a noble helper for two-time overall winner Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian rode to third place on the first stage, gaining four bonus seconds on defending champion Jonas Vingegaard.

After the success of his twin Simon, Yates does not believe that the tasks in the team have been redistributed in any way. "Tadej has already shown that he's the best in the world and I'm sure he'll do it again in the coming weeks," said the Briton. "I'm not a leader, I'm here to support. And if I can support by putting others under pressure, then that's good. But I'm here 100 per cent for Tadej."

Pogacar did try to break away from Vingegaard on the last climb before Bilbao. But the Dane followed the attack on the 15 per cent climb to the Cote de Pike without much difficulty. This can be seen as the first indication that Vingegaard has indeed improved in terms of explosiveness.

Pogacar, on the other hand, was probably relieved that his scaphoid fracture, which had not yet fully healed, was no longer causing him any problems. "The hand felt good. My engine is starting slowly," said the 24-year-old. His successful chase for the bonus seconds at the finish should give him additional motivation.

After his crash in April, Pogacar had not been able to race for two months and had not been able to train on the bike for a long time. It was only a week before the Tour that he celebrated his comeback at the Slovenian championships, winning both the time trial and the road race in dominant fashion.

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