Simon Yates

Simon previously considered time-trialling to be a weakness, and his slowly improved since his junior years. He had improved in 2019, with his first win in the discipline, in a hilly course at Paris-Nice. This course may have suited him and other climbers, rather than TT specialists, due to the lumpy profile.

Yates confirmed his and the team's plans for him participating in the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. In March, Yates won Stage 7 of the 2018 Paris–Nice, a mountain top finish to Valdeblore La Colmiane, to take the overall race lead going into the final stage. However, on Stage 8 Marc Soler of the Movistar Team, who started the final stage 37 seconds down on Yates in sixth place overall, attacked around halfway into the stage along with compatriot David de la Cruz (Team Sky); the duo joined Omar Fraile (Astana) at the head of the race, and the trio managed to stay clear of the rest of the field by the time they reached Nice. As de la Cruz and Fraile contested stage honours, Soler finished third – acquiring four bonus seconds on the finish in addition to three gained at an earlier intermediate sprint – and with a 35-second gap to Yates and the remaining general classification contenders, it was enough to give Soler victory over Yates by four seconds. Later that month, Yates won stage 7 of the Volta a Catalunya after attacking multiple times on the 6.6-kilometre (4.1-mile) laps of the hilly final circuit through the Montjuïc Park. By doing so he finished fourth overall in the race.

2017 saw Yates collect stage wins at two prestigious stage races, Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie. He placed second at the latter, his highest finish in a UCI World Tour stage-race at the time. He finished 7th overall at the Tour de France and won the young rider classification, matching the feat achieved by his twin brother a year prior.

Yates returned to the Giro d'Italia aiming for the general classification. He entered the race, publicly stating that he considered himself as "the number one favourite" for the general classification. He started, showing superb form on the opening stage, an individual time-trial in Bologna, where he finished second behind Primož Roglič. Yates's hopes of the overall win looked all but over after a disastrous stage 9 time-trial that saw him lose over 3 minutes, dropping to 24th overall. He lost further time on stage 13 up to Lago Seru. Despite a second-place finish on stage 19, he finished 8th on GC, and described it as heartbreaking.

In March 2016, Yates finished seventh overall at Paris–Nice, however, in April it emerged that Yates had tested positive for the banned substance terbutaline in an in-competition test during the race. Yates was disqualified from the race and served a four-month doping ban during 2016; his team took full responsibility for this blaming an "administrative error". The ban meant Yates missed the 2016 Tour de France, where his brother Adam finished fourth overall and won the Young rider classification.

Following the expiry of his doping suspension, 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.

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. Orica–GreenEDGE's owner Gerry Ryan accused British Cycling of leaking the news of Yates' failed drug test to the press, and criticised the organisation for doing so. In a statement, Orica–GreenEDGE claimed 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 international governing body 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 the "presence and use of the specified prohibited substance terbutaline" backdated from 12 March (the date the positive sample was collected), preventing Yates from competing at the 2016 Tour de France.

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.

On Stage 14, Yates finished second behind Chris Froome (Team Sky) on Monte Zoncolan. With six bonus seconds for finishing second, Yates extended his overall advantage over Dumoulin, whilst his gap over Froome was 3 minutes 10 seconds. Yates pedaled to a solo win on stage 15 to Sappada, attacking with 18 kilometres (11 miles) remaining, increasing his lead over Dumoulin. On Stage 17, a 34.2-kilometre (21.3-mile) individual time trial from Trento to Rovereto, Yates held on to his overall lead over Dumoulin. On stage 18 to Prato Nevoso Yates cracked on the final slopes of the summit finish and lost 28 seconds to all of his other general classification rivals. Stage 19 of the race had been classified as the 'queen stage' of the race, with three focussed climbs in the latter half of the stage. These included the half paved-half gravel climb of the Colle delle Finestre, followed by the climb to Sestriere and the final uphill finish too Bardonecchia. Yates cracked on the lower slopes of the Finestre, before Froome launched a solo attack with 80 kilometres (50 miles) left of the stage. Froome's advantage grew throughout the second half of the stage, culminating in him taking a stage victory of more than three minutes and thereby also taking the overall race lead, 40 seconds ahead of Dumoulin. Yates lost over 38 minutes to Froome and dropped to 17th overall. He eventually finished the race 21st overall, 1 hour and 15 minutes behind the winner 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.

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.

Yates entered the Giro d'Italia as joint leader of Mitchelton–Scott with Esteban Chaves, supported by a strong climbing focused team including Roman Kreuziger, Mikel Nieve and Jack Haig. Yates placed seventh in the opening 9.7-kilometre (6.0-mile) individual time trial in Jerusalem, 20 seconds down on the defending champion and world time trial champion Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb). On Stage 6 to Mount Etna, Yates took the race lead after finishing second behind teammate Chaves. Yates attacked from the group of favourites 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) from the summit and caught Chaves, who had been part of the day's breakaway, in sight of the line, but waved Chaves through to claim the stage honours. The result meant Yates held the Maglia rosa over Dumoulin in second, and over Chaves in third place. Yates won stage 9 after accelerating away with 100 metres (330 feet) to go on the summit finish to Gran Sasso d'Italia, extending his lead over Chaves, and Dumoulin. Yates extended his lead further on Stage 10, but teammate Chaves dropped out of contention after finishing 25 minutes down after being dropped on the first climb. Yates claimed his second stage victory on Stage 11, attacking with 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) to go and holding off the pursuit of Dumoulin to win on hill top finish in Osimo. Yates increased his lead over Dumoulin.

Yates was Mitchelton–Scott's team leader for the Vuelta a España, with support from his brother. Yates moved into third place on the general classification after stage 4, the first mountain stage, ten seconds behind leader Kwiatkowski. On the ninth stage, Yates took the leader's red jersey from Rudy Molard going into the first rest day. However he lost the lead on stage 12, when Mitchelton–Scott elected not to close down a large breakaway, with the red jersey being taken by Jesús Herrada with Yates in second and Valverde in third. However the following day Yates cut nearly two minutes from Herrada's lead, and he then took victory on the fourteenth stage, reclaiming the overall lead. He extended his lead during stage 16 (an individual time trial) and stage 19. On the last mountain stage the following day, Yates attacked his rivals on the penultimate climb, joining Miguel Ángel López and Nairo Quintana alongside Enric Mas at the head of the race, and eventually finishing third on the stage behind Mas and López, who moved up into second and third overall after Valverde and Steven Kruijswijk lost significant time. He went on to safely cross the finish line on the last stage in Madrid to secure his overall victory.

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.

Simon Philip Yates (born 7 August 1992) is a British road and track racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Mitchelton–Scott. His twin brother is Adam Yates, who is also a cyclist for the same team. He won the gold medal in the points race at the 2013 Track Cycling World Championships. Following a doping ban in 2016, he won the young rider classification in the 2017 Tour de France and the general classification in the 2018 Vuelta a España. Yates has also won multiple stages at each of cycling's three grand tours.