5 dark horse candidates to upset at the 2018 Tour de France
By Elliot Howey
Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)
The Englishman’s stock continues to rise Tour after Tour. Adam Yates has already sampled success at the Tour de France, when at the age of 23 he won the Best Young Rider award after finishing fourth overall in the 2016 Tour.
Last year Yates decided against racing in the Tour and focused his efforts in to the Giro d’Italia, but came up short with a ninth-place finish in a race which he was hoping for at least a podium position in the general classification.
The Micthelton-Scott rider hasn’t had the best run-up to the Tour this year. Yates suffered a broken pelvis in March at the Volta a Catalunya.
But the injury hasn’t seemed to effect the rider, who managed to finished second in the Criterium du Dauphine in June, showing Yates will head in to this years Tour in fine form.
The Brit’s team, Mitchelton-Scott, only recently decided that general classification is its primary focus. In previous tours the team goal was trying to win individual stages. But this year the team’s main goal will be to help Yates as much as possible.
The team has been filled with quality climbers to help the team leader overcome the tough mountain stages.
Yates certainly has the talent to win the Tour, but like his team, he is still relatively inexperienced in mounting a GC challenge. Yates will have to live up to his nickname, “The Shadow“ (from his ability to stay with rivals when they attack him).
If he is to stop Froome from winning this year’s Tour de France, the Mitchelton-Scott rider must be willing to attack at every chance he gets. His youthful energy mixed with talent and drive will certainly worry all the GC contenders.