Orica-GreenEdge were put through the mill in the opening week of the Tour de France, losing Simon Gerrans, Daryl Impey and Michael Albasini in quick succession. They had to soft pedal through their favoured stage, the team time trial, with only six riders – or five and a half as a struggling Michael Matthews pointed out. Things started to take a turn for the better when the race hit the mountains where they were able to let lose the Yates brothers, Adam and Simon.
“We had some really bad luck in the first week, we lost some amazing guys. We just did what we could, me and Simon did what we could in the last two weeks,” Adam told Cyclingnews after the race finished in Paris on Sunday evening.
“It was hard, especially when it’s those guys. They’re normally the guys that win all the races for us. It was definitely a major loss but we worked through it and the team never lost their motivation or morale.”
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Adam made his race debut at this year’s race, while Simon was competing in his second edition after a late call-up in 2014. Simon made a big impression at the race last year but was pulled out on the opening rest day so as not to push him too far. This year the team allowed him and his brother an opportunity to ride all the way to Paris.
“I think that I’ve been able to take a lot from last year that I’ve been able to use it this year,” Simon told Cyclingnews. “It’s the Tour de France, it’s the hardest race we do all year. There’s a lot of suffering and I don’t think you learn to suffer, it’s just one of those things. Luckily I have a whole year to recover from it.”
The Yates brothers are part of Orica-GreenEdge’s future GC hopefuls, and they didn’t disappoint in France. The pair were allowed the freedom to see how they fared, riding an aggressive strategy and getting into a number of breaks. Simon struggled in the Pyrenees but by the time the race reached the iconic Alpe d’Huez he had the measure of several of the favourites, beating the likes of Vincenzo Nibali and Alberto Contador up the climb.
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