UAE Team Emirates say that GC contender Adam Yates will continue with protected rider status at the Vuelta a España despite losing nearly two minutes on GC in the opening stages.
Yates began the 2024 Vuelta a España as co-leader with Joao Almeida, and performed well in the stage 1 time trial, losing less than twenty seconds on Roglič. However, the Briton was one of the favourites who lost the most time in the opening mountain top stage finish at Pico Villuercas, finishing more than 90 seconds down on the Slovenian stage winner. Overall he is now at 1:56.
While his teammate and co-leader João Almeida was up with the front group of seven riders, claiming third, and is now Roglič's closest pursuer in the Vuelta a España GC standings at eighth seconds, UAE team management said Yates' difficult day was due to the extreme heat throughout the stage. For now, rather than have Yates switch to a super-domestique role given Almeida's better performance, they are still in favour of a two-pronged attack on GC.
"It's too early to look at it like that, above all because yesterday [stage 4] was a very special stage," team manager Joxean Fernández Matxin told Cyclingnews at the start of stage 5.
Explaining that it was the heat that had caused Yates to suffer on terrain that is usually very favourable to him, Matxin said, "Yesterday, for about three hours we were racing at 42 or 43 degrees non-stop and not everybody can handle or assimilate those sorts of temperatures well."
"Adam suffered in that heat, but he's got good legs. I have no doubt about that. Even if the results are what they are, and he finished 90 seconds down on stage 4."
Rather than change strategy, Matxin said, the plan was to wait until at least stage 9 and the next crunch mountain stage through the foothills of Sierra Nevada to see how they would tackle the race with Yates and Almeida.
"I'm an optimist and when there's a bad situation, it can always open a door to a good situation. What does that mean? When a rider loses 90 seconds, he's got a bit more freedom of movement, so I think we can look at the positive side of this as well."
Yates' GC options remain open, therefore, but Matxin recognised that there was no doubt at all who was the top favourite for the 2024 Vuelta a España. "And he's always been there, too. Anybody who's capable of winning what he's won in the Vuelta has to be a reference point and anybody who says the opposite hasn't seen his palmares in this race.
"I think Primož was, is and will be the big favourite and on stage 4 we could see just how convinced he was of his chances."
If Yates has plenty of opportunities to bounce back in the future, the good news for UAE in the Vuelta was that Almeida performed above expectations on a very steep climb. As such, riding so well on an ascent which was far from suitable for a rider who specialises in a steady 'diesel motor' pacing strategy in the mountains boded well for the Portuguese star.
"It was the first day, the first contact with the real climbs, let's see how he gets on, this is only just beginning," Matxin said about the 2023 Giro d'Italia podium finisher, who was the closest GC finisher to Roglič in the opening TT as well.
"We've also got to remember that heat factor as well for Joao, racing at 43 degrees like that makes the stage harder to take as a clear reference point for him,."
"Let's see how he gets on on Sunday's stage to Sierra Nevada when it'll be hot. Then we'll re-evaluate again when we hit the mountains in the north, which is where the Vuelta will actually be decided."
