Adam and Simon Yates to race together at Vuelta a Espana
Last Updated: 16/09/18 7:02pm
Adam Yates will again join twin brother Simon in Mitchelton-Scott's team for the Vuelta a Espana, which gets underway on August 25.
Simon Yates is one of the favourites to win the season's final Grand Tour having played a starring role in the Giro d'Italia back in May, where he led until fading badly on stage 19 when Chris Froome launched his successful solo bid for glory.
He was still buoyed by wearing the race leader's pink jersey for 13 days and hopes to be able to maintain his challenge in Spain, albeit having one eye on the World Road Race Championship on a hilly course in Austria at the end of September.
They compete in the same race rarely, although both brothers did ride last year's Vuelta without any success.
"My preparation has been very different to the Giro d'Italia," said Simon Yates who, like his brother, recently committed his future to the Australian-run team for two seasons.
"Like a few guys that will line up in Spain, I have one eye on the World Championships later this year so it will be interesting to see how my body responds but as always I'll give it my all to achieve a great result."
Adam Yates focused his season around the Tour de France, and he sat as high as seventh at one point before struggling in the Alps and eventually finishing 29th behind Geraint Thomas.
He is expected to play a support role for his brother, and said: "The Vuelta wasn't originally on my program.
"Together with the management we came to the decision that doing it after the Tour would be another good chance to get some experience in riding multiple Grand Tours in one year.
"It's pretty difficult to replicate the fatigue of a Grand Tour in training so the opportunity of riding the Vuelta without the stress of riding GC will be a good step towards gaining more experience not just in racing over three weeks but also in following all the routines and day-to-day stuff that goes on in a Grand Tour."
