Adam Richard Yates (born 7 August 1992) is a British professional road and track racing cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam UAE Team Emirates XRG. Yates placed third overall at the 2023 Tour de France. In 2016 he became the first British rider to win the young rider classification, one year ahead of his twin brother Simon Yates.
Yates has taken more than twenty wins during his professional career, including overall victories at the 2021 Volta a Catalunya, the 2023 Tour de Romandie and the 2024 Tour de Suisse. He has also won a stage at the Tour de France, in 2023, and the one-day races Clásica de San Sebastián (2015) and the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal (2023).
Yates grew up in Bury in Greater Manchester and attended Derby High School.
Adam and Simon Yates took up cycling after their father John was injured in a collision with a car while riding – during his recovery he took the twins to Manchester Velodrome to track sessions run by his cycling club, Bury Clarion, to keep in touch with the other members. Both brothers soon started riding on the road for Bury Clarion and on the track for Eastlands Velo. Whilst Simon was selected for the British Cycling Olympic Academy programme, Adam pursued his road racing career in France with financial help from the Dave Rayner Fund.
Yates finished second by just 55 seconds to Spanish rider Rubén Fernández in the general classification of the 2013 Tour de l'Avenir while representing the British national team.
Having spent a successful season with French amateur team CC Etupes, he joined the Australian UCI World Tour team Orica–GreenEDGE along with his brother in 2014. In his first professional race, the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, Yates finished eleventh overall and first in the young rider classification.
Yates's breakthrough results came at the Tour of Turkey in late April and early May 2014. He had been one of the team's protected riders for the general classification, along with his brother. On the third stage, he became the de facto team leader after Simon crashed out of the race. Yates was the only person to follow an attack by Rein Taaramäe on the final climb to Elmalı, and ultimately finished the stage in second place, six seconds down on Taaramäe after he had attacked again in the closing metres. After two stages that suited the sprinters, Yates achieved his first professional victory on the sixth stage, finishing at the House of the Virgin Mary in Selçuk. A reduced peloton had formed on the final climb from which Yates attacked with around a kilometre remaining. Yates held off the chasers – led home by Davide Formolo and Davide Rebellin, two seconds in arrears – and was able to take the leader's blue jersey from Taaramäe, who crossed the line seven seconds behind Yates. Yates held the race lead until its conclusion in Istanbul two days later; he extended his lead by a further four seconds on the final stage, as there was a split on the run-in, with only a 28-rider group being given the same time as stage winner, Mark Cavendish. He later described the victory – the first British overall win at the Tour of Turkey – as "unexpected", having set out with the ambition of winning stages.
Yates next competed at the Tour of California. After being passed on the road by Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) on Stage 2, the 20-kilometre (12-mile) individual time trial around Folsom, he finished fourth on Stage 3, which finished on Mount Diablo, and fourth on Stage 6, which finished on Mountain High. Yates finished fifth overall in the general classification, 2 minutes and 14 seconds behind the winner, Wiggins. Yates's good form continued at the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he placed eighth on the first mountain top finish on Stage 2. He finished third on Stage 5 after launching a late attack with Wilco Kelderman (Belkin Pro Cycling), and again finished third on Stage 8, a mountain-top finish at Courchevel. Yates finished the UCI World Tour race sixth overall. Orica–GreenEDGE decided not to select Yates for the Tour de France. He returned to racing at the GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano in July, which he won to take his first one-day professional victory. Yates made the lead group at the Clásica de San Sebastián with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), Bauke Mollema (Belkin Pro Cycling), Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) and Mikel Nieve (Team Sky), but crashed heavily on a descent with 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) remaining, missing out on the chance of his first World Tour victory. He made his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España, finishing 82nd overall.
Having finished ninth at Tirreno–Adriatico, Yates was named in the start list for the Tour de France. He finished seventh on Stage 8, which finished on the Mûr-de-Bretagne, and seventh on the first mountain stage, Stage 10, which finished on the Col de la Pierre St Martin in the Pyrenees. He added a further top-10 stage finish at the Pra-Loup ski resort, as he finished 50th overall. The week following the Tour de France, Yates took his biggest victory to that point by winning the Clásica de San Sebastián one-day race, after attacking on the final climb as leader Greg Van Avermaet of BMC Racing Team was involved in a crash with a race motorcycle, and holding off the chasers on the descent into San Sebastián. In the confusion after Van Avermaet's crash Yates did not realise he had won, so did not initially celebrate when crossing the finishing line. In September, Yates recorded podium finishes in two Canadian races held in consecutive weeks; he finished second overall to Bauke Mollema at the Tour of Alberta – winning the young rider classification in the process – before losing a sprint à deux against Tim Wellens at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, a result that still left him "pretty happy".
Yates was selected to ride the Tour de France for the second successive year, with his season's best result to that point being a fourth-place overall finish at the Tour de Yorkshire. On Stage 7, Yates broke clear of the leading group of general classification contenders on the descent of the Col d'Aspin, but was involved in an accident when the inflatable arch marking 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) remaining of the stage – the flamme rouge – deflated as he rode underneath it. Yates suffered cuts to his chin requiring stitches, but after the stage results were revised to give him the 7 second advantage he had over the peloton with 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) to go, Yates rose to second overall and took the white jersey as leader of the Young rider classification from Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx–Quick-Step). On Stage 9, at the race's first mountain top finish in Andorra, Yates finished tenth, leading home a select group of general classification contenders including Chris Froome (Team Sky), Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) and Dan Martin (Etixx–Quick-Step). This meant Yates sat second overall going into the first rest day, 16 seconds behind Froome, and led the young rider classification by 39 seconds. Yates was thought to have moved into the yellow jersey on stage 12, which finished at Mont Ventoux, following an incident with a motorcycle on the final climb which delayed Froome, Porte and Bauke Mollema; the race jury later decided to give those riders the same time as Mollema – who finished 19 seconds ahead of Yates, meaning Froome actually extended his lead. Yates ultimately finished the Tour de France in 4th place, 21 seconds from a podium finish; he did, however, win the white jersey with a margin of 2 minutes, 16 seconds over Louis Meintjes (Lampre–Merida).
Yates started 2017 with a victory in March's GP Industria & Artigianato di Larciano for the second time in his career, ahead of Richard Carapaz and Rigoberto Urán. He had to abandon his next start – at Tirreno–Adriatico – while in second place overall, and he then finished in fourth place overall at the Volta a Catalunya, before making his first start at the Giro d'Italia. He ran as high as third overall following the first summit finish at Mount Etna on stage four, but lost almost five minutes five stages later on the stage to Blockhaus following a crash with a police motorbike, and dropped outside of the top ten. He worked his way back up to eighth, but lost a position to Bob Jungels on the final day individual time trial, which also determined the winner of the young rider classification. He rode the Vuelta a España for the first time since 2014, running as high as eighth overall – before losing more than nine minutes on stage eleven, which finished at the Calar Alto Observatory, removing him from overall contention. He finished the season with a second-place finish to Urán at Milano–Torino, who had attacked on the final ascent of the Superga climb.