British twins Adam and Simon Yates will have the leadership into the Alps starting Wednesday. The 22-year-old riders have already animated stages in this Tour de France and hopes to be in a good shape in the Alpine heartland, with three summit finishes. According to Cyclingnews, Orica GreenEDGE sport director Matthew White hopes to see them at the front.
"Cut them off the leash, they’re off GC so they can go for it," White told. "Simon’s obviously back from illness but hopefully an easier day today, a rest day tomorrow. We’ll see what happens, see what the Alps brings to him. Adam is in good shape as we saw in the past but it’s just getting into the right break. With those guys, we are going into uncharted territories with the fatigue of the third week. Adam did the Vuelta last year and he felt it. It’s another level up here at the Tour. They are in good shape at the moment but things can change in that last week fatigue wise, particularly with the young ones."
Adam and Simon Yates added they reconned every Alpine stages, except the last. "The only stage we didn’t recon was the one that was changed [the Col du Galibier was removed from stage 20 due to road damage] but we took them over the courses, pre and post Dauphiné," White explained. "The first stage was actually used in the Dauphiné, the Pra Loup, and they’ve checked out the other stages."
The goal remains to win a stage in the Australian team. "They just want to get down the road and try and win a stage. We also have to read the mood of the bunch and some stages are going to be more inclined for GC teams to control and others not so much so we’ll take it day-by-day."
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