There were very particular expectations regarding Simon Yates in his first season as a professional, but the 21-year old Briton so far lives up to those expectations and proves to have made right choice deciding to link his future with the Australian WorldTour team.

Simon Yates raised some interest as a future grand tour contender following his Tour de l’Avenir and Tour of Britain stage victories, with the young rider classification won in the latter.

The decision made by Yates brothers to join Orica-GreenEDGE for their first seasons in professional cycling met some criticism, but Simon insisted that Australian squad would provide them with opportunities to gain experience and develop they would never receive in other WorldTour squads, more particularly having Team Sky on his mind.

First months of the 2014 season proved that brothers were right about their judgement, as Orics-GreenEDGE were very clear and consequent in grooming Simon into leadership role he is expected to play in the future.

Most recently, the 21-year old Briton rode impressively in the Vualta al Pais Vasco, to finish twelfth in the general classification despite being obligated to play supporting role for his leaders.

“My job was to help Pieter Weening, but he just came off a training camp and took a few days to get into it,” Yates told Cycling Weekly.

“So he lost his overall chances, but straight away, he switched and helped me. That’s the good thing about this team, you help out and you get helped back.”

“I wasn’t aiming for a specific result, we were targeting stage wins. We got the stage win with Bling, anything after that was a bonus,” Yates said. He placed 3-17 minutes behind winner Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).

“I wasn’t expecting too much going into it. So, I was pretty happy with the overall result.”

Simon Yates has shown a fighting spirit from the very beginning of his career as a professional cyclist, finishing 13th in the very demanding Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, 44th in Paris-Nice and most impressively, 12th in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

“Basque Country was hard race, especially the last road stage. That was one of the hardest races I’ve done, full-gas all day. It was just an experience for me, something I can use for the future,” Yates said.

Expected to play a supporting role to Simon Gerrans and Michael Matthews in the Brabantse Pijl yesterday, young Briton didn’t manage to finish the race but will receive another try to tackle hilly Ardennes parcours at the Fleche Wallonne next Wednesday.

There will be no much of a rest for the 21-year old Yates, however, as he is expected to ride the Tour of Turkey and Amgen Tour of California stage races.

“I haven’t set many goals for myself, it’s just about helping the team. We have some big riders in this team. As long as I can help out and do a good job for them, I’m happy.”