Adam Yates secures victory for UAE Team Emirates in Tour de Romandie

Briton wins first title since joining team last year

UAE Team Emirates rider Adam Yates celebrates after winning the Tour de Romandie on April 30, 2023. AP

Adam Yates won the Tour of Romandie on Sunday to secure his first title since joining UAE Team Emirates last year after finishing in the main bunch in the fifth and final stage.

A 170km ride round the lake from Vufflens-la-Ville to Geneva, ended in a mass sprint which Colombian Fernando Gaviria of Movistar won ahead of German Nikias Arndt of Bahrain Victorious and Briton Ethan Hayter of Ineos, who clinched the jersey for best sprinter.

Yates, in his first season with Team UAE, took Saturday's mountainous 'Queen' stage, claiming the overall lead and the glory of the summit triumph.

On Sunday's ride, the British rider was untroubled as his team controlled a four-man break that was engulfed by a speeding peloton an agonising 2km from the finish line.

American Matteo Jorgenson of Movistar was second overall at 19 sec thanks to his performance in Friday's time trial. Italian veteran Damiano Caruso of Bahrain was third at 27 sec as he gets ready for another Giro d'Italia.

“Credit to the guys, they controlled the race perfectly today,” said Yates. “It’s been a perfect week for us with two stage wins and the overall, so we can’t ask for much more.”

Romandie was Yates’s first competitive outing since March’s Volta a Catalunya, where he was hindered by injuries sustained in an opening day crash.

“Winning here was the plan after the little break that I had that gave me a chance to recover from my crash in Catalunya,” said the Briton.

“We knew that there was a big mountain day that I could win. It’s easier said than done and much harder to put all of the pieces together, but in the end we managed to do it.”

The Romandie race through the French-speaking region of Switzerland is a traditional warm-up for the Tour de France though it was skipped this year by the expected main contenders in July.

Yates's UAE Team Emirates colleague Tadej Pogacar, a two-time Tour de France winner, is recovering from a broken wrist after falling during the Liege-Bastogne-Liege cycling classic.