Two days in, the 2023 Tour de France is already going swimmingly for UAE Team Emirates, with Adam Yates enjoying his first day in the yellow jersey having won the opener in Bilbao, and team leader Tadej Pogačar gaining time on GC rival Jonas Vingegaard on both stages so far.
The second day, another day in the hills over 209km to San Sébastián, saw Yates work for Pogačar on the final climb of the day, the Jaizkibel, setting up the Slovenian to attack for the bonus seconds atop the famous climb.
He did just that, putting another three seconds into Vingegaard in addition to a further four at the finish line with third place.
Yates, meanwhile, came in with the main group to maintain a reduced six-second lead over Pogačar and his brother Simon, with the prospect of at least two further days in yellow lying ahead as sprint stages in Bayonne and Nogaro loom.
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"It was a good day," Yates said of his first day in the maillot jaune this July. "We controlled pretty much all day with no one to help us, which wasn't a surprise.
"The final got a little bit messy. We tried to set Tadej up for the bonus seconds. Then I found it pretty difficult to do a lead out on a pan-flat stage as a 58kg rider. I stayed behind him to block riders from behind on his wheel, and that was it. A good day."
Yates was at the head of the peloton as it thinned out heading up the second-category Jaizkibel, well-known to the peloton for those who race the Donostia San Sébastián Klasikoa, which Yates won back in 2015.
His brother Simon, second to him in Bilbao, launched an attack on the way up, but he and UAE kept control before Pogačar and Vingegaard blasted off to contest the top of the climb alone before they were caught back on the descent.
"I was doing the lead-out, so I was already going pretty much full gas," Yates said. "It's actually quite hard to gauge your effort because you can see 1km to go but after that, there are no signs.
"I know the back of the climb a little bit but I know the opposite direction more, so I knew roughly where I was. It's hard to gauge the effort but I think we did a good job and Tadej took the bonus seconds, so a job well done."
Pogačar's seconds at the top and another four for third place at the line bring him to 16 in total for the Tour de France to Vingegaard's five.
After Saturday's opening stage, the Dane said that the Tour probably won't be decided by the four seconds Pogačar had taken on him, but the more they add up, the larger the effect they'll have on the GC standings of the 2023 Tour de France. At least that's what Yates and UAE are hoping.
"He's super quick and it's quite easy for him to just pick up a few seconds here and there," he said of Pogačar. "If we do this over three weeks it adds up quite quickly. So for sure, we'll keep doing this every time there's an opportunity and then yeah, hopefully, we'll have enough time in Paris."
Yates also praised his team leader's attitude. He admitted on Saturday that Pogačar is the number one at the squad, despite general manager Mauro Gianetti's insistence before the Tour that he and Yates were co-leaders. Yates said that Pogačar elevates everyone's level at the squad.
"Having someone like this as a leader brings the level of the whole team up," Yates said. "He's motivated all the time and it makes everyone else motivated all the time.
"He's definitely easy to work with. Like I said yesterday – over the next three weeks we can do better things and we'll see what happens."
