2014 Tour of Turkey champion Adam Yates has capped off a big stage four of the Tirreno-Adriatico for ORICA-GreenEDGE, finishing a strong tenth place behind a solo winner. The 22-year-old’s performance followed an aggressive stage by the team that saw Luke Durbridge and Mathew Hayman combine to form the day’s breakway.

Yates finished amongst a small group of 18 at the conclusion of the 226km stage, 14 seconds behind solo winner Wout Poels (Team Sky), to also move up in the general classification.

“It was a very solid day today, six hours racing, and a pretty tough final,” sport director Matt White said to the Orica website. “It was a good test for Adam and he has run tenth on the stage and is now 11th on general classification."

“Tomorrow is obviously the crucial day for overall and we will see what the weather conditions dish out and if we will be able to complete the stage or if there are any changes. The aim of this week was top ten. We haven’t gone up any long climbs so far so it’ll be another good test tomorrow if we do the full stage.”

ORICA-GreenEDGE animated the early action on the lumpy fourth stage, which at 226km is the longest for the Tour. Hayman and Durbridge established an ORICA-GreenEDGE exclusive break and worked together out front. After 50km of racing they had a lead of eight minutes 30 seconds.

Half way through the stage, the gap remained at a little under seven minutes. The duo spent the best past of 200km in front, establishing early and surviving together until the final 25km, and Hayman solo for another five kilometres. As the diminished peloton passed them, a number of attacks were unsuccessful before a select group formed towards the conclusion of the race, of which the successful solo attack was launched.

In other news, despite making it through yesterday, Canadian Svein Tuft did not start today’s stage due to shoulder soreness sustained in his crash on stage two. Scans two days ago showed not fractures, but White said the injury was of concern.

“Svein was in a lot of pain yesterday and it made no sense to have him continue,” White said. “We’ll evaluate the situation after he has had some rest, but it definitely puts a big question mark on the Classics for him. If that’s the case, we’ll focus on the Giro for him instead.”

Tomorrow’s stage five is the queen stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico, finishing at the summit of Terminillo.