Simon and Adam Yates will be looking for a high finishing position in today's stage of the Tour of the Basque Country in Spain, which features a tough summit finale.
The British brothers are taking part in the WorldTour-level stage race as leaders for the Australian-registered Orica-GreenEdge team. Today's stage concludes with an ascent of Alto de Garrastatxu, a relatively short but steep climb previously unused in the race.
>>> Luis Leon Sanchez wins opening stage of Tour of the Basque Country
On Monday's opening stage, the Yates brothers did much of the pace-setting on the final climb to whittle down the peloton and put team-mate Simon Gerrans in a good position. Gerrans placed third on the stage, having just fallen short of catching escape duo Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Daniel Navarro (Cofidis).
Both of the Yates brothers finished in the lead group, at the same time as key rivals such as Alberto Contador (Tinkoff), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Sergio Henao (Sky), Daniel Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and defending champion Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).
"Adam and Simon set an incredible pace on the last climb," said Orica-GreenEdge sports director Neil Stephens after the stage.
"It’s really good to see the team working so well together on the first day. All the overall contenders are still together so we have everything still to race for and the team is feeling confident about the rest of the week."
Watch: Yates vs Yates
Simon Yates finished fifth overall in the 2015 edition of the race but Adam Yates's 2015 appearance was cut short after he was caught up in a crash at the end of stage one and broke his finger.
Adam bounced back in the latter part of the season to claim his biggest win to date, the Clásica de San Sebastián in August.
The 2016 Tour of the Basque Country (Vuelta al Pais Vasco) concludes on Saturday, April 9.
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