British rider heads Mitchelton-Scott line-up at WorldTour race
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Simon Yates stands behind Fernando Alonso's car at the French Grand Prix(Image credit: Pirelli)
Simon Yates is taken on a hot lap of the Paul Ricard circuit(Image credit: Pirelli)
Mitchelton-Scott's Simon Yates and Esteban Chaves celebrate in their pink and blue jerseys, respectively, after Chaves took the stage win and Yates the overall lead on stage 6 of the 2018 Giro to Mount Etna(Image credit: Getty Images)
Giro d'Italia leader Simon Yates signs on for stage 8(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Esteban Chaves and Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Simon Yates will continue his preparations for the Vuelta a España at the forthcoming Tour de Pologne. Yates will headline Mitchelton-Scott's overall ambitions at the one-week race with riders such as Matteo Trentin, Roman Kreuziger and Michael Albasini providing back up.
Yates enjoyed a lengthy summer break following his title bid at the Giro d'Italia, where he spent almost two weeks in the maglia rosa and won three stages – he would eventually finish 21st after cracking on the Colle delle Finestre. He returned to racing early last week at the Prueba Villafranca-Ordizia Klasika and finished second behind his teammate Rob Power. Yates' next major target will be the Vuelta a España, which begins later this month.
"I'm looking forward to racing at the Tour of Poland again and it continues my build up to the final part of the season," Yates said. "The sensations in Prueba Villafranca de Ordizia were good last week and the team performance was really positive, so I'm hoping for more of the same over the next week.
"We have a strong team here which can target every stage and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into some hard racing."
The Tour de Pologne squad will feature much of Mitchelton-Scott's Vuelta line-up as they look to finesse their form ahead of the Spanish Grand Tour. Alongside Yates, Trentin, Kreuziger and Albasini will be Australian national champion Alex Edmondson, sprinter Luka Mezgec and climber Carlos Verona.
"This race is a key part of our build-up for the Vuelta a España at the end of the month and an event where we have enjoyed success in the past. We will be supporting Simon where necessary and we will be attentive to all opportunities, but we won’t be looking to control the race.
"The core of our Vuelta squad will be here and it's important for us not to put the guys under any undue pressure, but with the team, we have here I am sure that we will not be coming home empty handed."
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The Tour de Pologne takes place over seven days, beginning with a 134-kilometre stage in Krakow on Saturday, August 4, and finishes on August 10 in Bukowina Tatrzanska.
