Adam Yates took his first stage race win of 2019 with victory in Croatia at the UCI 2.1 category CRO Race.
The Mitchelton-Scott rider finished 22 seconds ahead of Astana's Davide Villella, finishing the final stage six in seventh place to seal the overall classification.
>>> Rod Ellingworth: ‘I wanted Rohan Dennis to stay’ at Bahrain-Merida
Yates stormed into the race lead by winning stage five, the 136km route from Rabac going along the coast to a summit finish at Platak, finishing 10 seconds ahead of Villella to open up a gap at the top of the GC.
Speaking after his victory, Yates said: "Today panned out perfectly, we didn’t want to risk working too much earlier in the day and having nobody in the final circuits just in case it kicked off.
"From the beginning of the week we set out to win a stage and hopefully the GC would come along with that and that’s pretty much what ended up happening. Alex was up there almost every stage challenging for the win and Brent and Callum really set me up for my win on stage five, so as a team we couldn’t have done much more.
"We had a real mix of guys here and with some of the dangerous finishing circuit things could have got out of control quickly but we stayed focused and never really ended up on back foot the whole week."
It's been a large disappointing 2019 for Adam Yates, having based his season around targeting the general classification at the Tour de France and ultimately falling flat, finishing 29th, more than an hour down.
Result
CRO Race 2019, final general classification
1. Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 20-57-05
2. Davide Villella (Ita) Astana, at 22 seconds
3. Víctor de la Parte (Esp) CCC, at 29s
4. Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Astana, at 42s
5. Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida, at 50s
6. Alexis Guerin (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence, at 1-09
7. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Vital Concept - B&B Hotels, at 1-25
8. Brent Bookwalter (USA) Mitchelton-Scott, at 1-42
9. Sjoerd Bax (Ned) Metec - TKH Continental, at 1-45
10. Radoslav Rogina (Cro) Adria Mobil, at 2-09
-
-
Leaked contract shows Manuela Fundación tried to buy Mitchelton-Scott for €7 million
The failed takeover of the Australian squad, now called Team BikeExchange, caused confusion in June last year
By Jonny Long •
-
'I hope he doesn't think I'm some fanatic weirdo': Man fulfils promise to get Mark Cavendish tattoo if he won another race
Paul James has paid homage to the sprinter's comeback with a tattoo of the Tour de France green jersey winner
By Jonny Long •
-
‘I learned about suffering’ - Egan Bernal and Adam Yates reflect on mixed Vuelta a España for Ineos Grenadiers
The British WorldTour squad left the race without a reason to celebrate, but have taken hope from the final Grand Tour of the season
By Alex Ballinger •
-
Adam Yates and Egan Bernal share their thoughts as Primož Roglič leads Vuelta a España on first rest day
How are the Ineos Grenadiers leaders faring with two weeks left to race?
By Alex Ballinger •
-
Egan Bernal, Adam Yates and Dani Martínez escape serious injury in Vuelta a Burgos crash
The Ineos Grenadiers leaders are using the Vuelta a Burgos as a warm-up race for the Vuelta a España later this month
By Tim Bonville-Ginn •
-
Egan Bernal and Adam Yates lead super-strong Ineos Grenadiers team for Clásica San Sebastián 2021
The Giro d'Italia winner returns to racing for the first time since taking pink in spring
By Tim Bonville-Ginn •
-
‘Simon can learn to stand on his own two feet,’ says BikeExchange sports director after departure of Adam Yates
Simon Yates can learn to ‘stand on his own feet’ after the departure of his brother from Team BikeExchange, according to sports director Laurenzo Lapage.
By Alex Ballinger •
-
Adam Yates is the 'next British star' says Sir Bradley Wiggins
Sir Bradley Wiggins threw buckets of praise at Ineos Grenadiers after they dominated the recent Volta a Catalunya taking all three spots on the podium with Adam Yates taking the overall title
By Tim Bonville-Ginn •
-
'It's an environment that helps you win, but I'm still the same guy': Scintillating early form not down to dramatic changes at Ineos Grenadiers, says Adam Yates
The Brit took his first victory for his new team, but says he's stuck to what he knows in order reach top form
By Chris Marshall-Bell •
-
Adam Yates dominates to take victory on stage three of Volta a Catalunya 2021
Adam Yates came out on top on stage three of Volta a Catalunya 2021 up the Vallter 200 climb finishing solo ahead of Esteban Cháves and Alejandro Valverde.
By Tim Bonville-Ginn •
