Identical start, diverging destinies? The story of Adam and Simon Yates as they both race for pink at the Giro d'Italia

This feature initially appeared in the 1 May edition of Cycling Weekly magazine. You can set up your subscription now to ensure you don't miss an issue.

"It was like one of those mirages that you see in old cowboy films," says Keith Lambert, former U23 head coach at British Cycling. Speaking to me from his North Yorkshire home, he is recalling the moment, circa 2009, when he first laid eyes on the Yates twins in a bike race. As a seasoned coach, Lambert had seen plenty of fledgling talents and usually knew within a few pedal strokes who was going to make it. On the Friday evening in question, he had driven to Colne, Lancashire, to watch a local youth criterium – and initially worried he was seeing double.

"These two riders were going round in the same kit, on the same bikes, they were the same size, everything. They just rode away from everybody that day and were far ahead of the competition, even then. I remember they ended up first and second after lapping the field a few times."

It would be years before Adam and Simon Yates regularly competed in different kits, allowing fans and commentators to easily tell them apart. In their early years, the twins were almost inseparable – aside from a brief spell after Simon joined the British Cycling Academy while Adam, backed by the Dave Rayner Foundation, raced on the road in France. Now, 11 years after turning professional together with Orica-GreenEdge (now Jayco-Alula) and spending several seasons as teammates, the boys from Bury are once again racing for different teams. This May, they will both line up at the Giro d’Italia – a race Simon nearly won in 2018.

Despite their shared DNA and parallel rise to the top of the sport, Adam and Simon, now aged 32, have carved out subtly different paths. Understanding their differences in personality and temperament isn’t easy, not least because both shy away from the limelight. My interview requests – to UAE Emirates-XRG for Adam, and to Visma-Lease a Bike for Simon – were both eventually declined. This was reluctance on the brothers’ part, I suspect, rather than stonewalling from their teams. The Yates brothers may not want to comment on it, but the divergence in their career paths is now more fascinating now than ever. And if they wouldn’t talk to us, we’d just have to ask the people who know them best.

Weetabix eating contests and Call of Duty sessions

We begin with former Conti-level pro, 31-year-old Chris Latham, a childhood friend of the brothers, who joins our scheduled Zoom call grinning mischievously. "I've just texted them both now," he says in a broad Lancashire accent. "I've told them I want at least 10 grand off the pair of them for not chucking them under the bus in this," he says, bursting into laughter, clearly relishing the opportunity to talk candidly about two of his closest mates.

"They've always been tight and got on well. I remember they shared a room as kids and just smashed Call of Duty, Haribo and Lucozade all the time." Latham frequently visited the Yateses. "I lived in Bolton, only 10 miles away from them in Bury," he says. "I'd ride over to their place, go on a ride with them, and after getting battered by their dad on our bikes, we'd play Call of Duty for hours. It was quality, growing up together."

What about sibling rivalry as cycling began to replace video games – were the twins as serious back then as they often appear in interviews now? I begin to recount how James Knox once told Cycling Weekly that the Yates brothers were "hilarious" and had him "howling at the dinner table" during pre-Tokyo Olympics training in 2020, when Latham interrupts: "Oh mate, they were always chucking banter about," he says, cracking up again – supporting Knox's characterisation of the pair. "They'd compete against each other anyway, just for a laugh – whether it was how many Weetabix they could eat, or racing their bikes at the weekend. There's always a good laugh wherever those two are."

Admitting that it’s hard to imagine the Yateses as party animals, I ask Latham to provide an example. He bursts out laughing again. "They love red wine, as they think they're posh now," he jokes, "but the thing is, we used to go down to Sainsbury's most nights as kids and get a bottle of wine for a fiver – but now it's the fine wine menu with them." He recounts a recent night out and his horror as the brothers began perusing expensive bottles on the wine list. "I told them to get a grip, behave and get something cheaper."

Now that Latham had confirmed that the Yates brothers certainly don’t deserve their staid, serious image, it was time to talk about the origins of their competitive drive in more detail. After a few email exchanges with members of Bury Clarion – the brothers’ first club – I boarded a train bound for Manchester. How had the twins stayed so close despite competing for rival teams? Has this ever led to tensions? I wanted to better understand two of the most underappreciated men in the sport.

My first stop is lunch in Bury with Nick Hall, a longstanding family friend of the Yates family. "I first met Simon and Adam out on a ride," Hall recalls, pausing to sip his tea. "There were probably only half a dozen of us, and they must have only been about 12 or 13." I ask if that was unusual – kids so young joining a Saturday club run with their dad and his mates?

"Well yes, my first reaction was 'what are these two kids doing coming out with us older blokes?'" he says. "But then you got to a hill and they started racing off up it, leaving us all thinking, 'hang on, what the hell are we doing out with them?' It was obvious they were very good." Hall remembers Adam and Simon being naturally competitive, though always in a good-natured way. Even back then, their ambitions were crystal clear. "I remember talking to them on another early ride. Most local kids would say 'I want to play for Man United,' but with Simon and Adam it was always professional cycling. They told me they wanted to be cyclists and ride the Tour de France."

After lunch, Hall offers me a lift to the nearest tram stop and we continue our conversation on the way. He points out several local landmarks, including the street that the Yates family still calls home. I had hoped to speak with the twins' parents, John and Sue – having had a pleasant chat with them during a chance encounter at the 2023 Tour de France – but Hall tells me they prefer to avoid media interactions. It’s nothing personal, he assures me. "I think Sue would probably do more interviews, but it's just not John’s cup of tea," he explains. Do they fear being misquoted? "Not really," says Hall. “They’re just very private people."

Working in close proximity with a sibling is liable to cause friction, so I ask Hall if he remembers hearing any instances of Simon and Adam clashing as their careers were taking off. With a laugh, he insists that these two siblings really are as close as they seem. "They have just always understood each other, and they have fairly similar personalities," he says. "They're both very cool and laid-back, and that's genuinely how they’ve always been." Not even teenage squabbles on the club run? "No, not at all," he says.

Listening to Hall, it's becoming clear that the twins, in their younger days, really were as Chris Latham described them. I remember speaking to Simon in Canada last September: he had told me he didn't want to finalise the details of his transfer to Visma until he'd had a chance to talk through the details with his "best mate", Adam. "We always discuss everything together," he said.

Face value

A picture is emerging of two siblings who really are as close as they seem. Hall describes the humble, cohesive family unit that kept them grounded, the "two up, two down" house, and the "down-to-earth" parents. Did this background ensure they would remain modest and unassuming? "I think it all comes from John and Sue and their manner," he says. "It's just how the boys have always been brought up – they all know each other inside-out and are very close as a family."

I steer the conversation back to cycling. Simon's Vuelta win in 2018 automatically placed him among cycling's greats – while Adam's best Grand Tour result is third in the 2023 Tour de France. Hall insists that this has never provoked any jealousy or tension, reiterating a point also made by Keith Lambert: through good and bad times, the brothers have always had each other's backs. As an example, he tells me that Adam fiercely defended his twin in 2016 after Simon tested positive for the asthma drug Terbutaline (the team blamed an "administrative error").

The twins have now spent several years on rival teams, and who can forget their dramatic one-two finish on the opening day of the 2023 Tour de France. Latham, Hall and Lambert all draw attention to that moment, recalling having their hearts in their mouths. But it wasn't the first time they had gone one-two in a major bike race. Back in 2013, the brothers finished first and second on a key mountain stage in the Tour de l’Avenir, with Simon taking the win.

In my conversation with Latham, I hypothesised that it could happen again this May – would Adam attack even if the overall lead were at stake for Simon? There will be no favours given, insists Latham. "When it comes to cycling, they are absolutely zoned-in," he says. "It's as simple as that, they don’t fuck about. They're absolute best mates, but they'd always let their legs decide in any race scenario. They're proper bike racers in that sense – that's just who they are and always will be."