The news was announced on Friday, with Mitchelton-Scott unveiling their eight-man roster for July's marquee race. Adam Yates will lead the team's GC aspirations, while Simon Yates will race as a support rider in the mountains after finishing eighth overall at the Giro d'Italia earlier this month.
Adam Yates finished fourth at the Tour de France in 2016, but failed to perform to such high standards when he was given leadership responsibilities last year. However, he returns determined to rediscover his best form in a race that should suit him in terms of its mountainous profile.
He recently took part in the Critérium du Dauphiné and led the race before eventually pulling over through illness. According to his team, he is now back to full health.
"The Tour this year is a tough one – especially towards the end of the race," Adam Yates said when the line-up was announced. "I checked out stages 18, 19 and 20 just before the Dauphiné, and three stages like that, back-to-back at the very end of the race, will be sure to have some fireworks. Not only that: there are some really tricky stages like stage 6 to La Planche des Belles Filles, which I know quite well from when I raced for CC Etupes and lived in France. So overall it's a very tough route with some challenging terrain.
"A couple of years ago I was fourth and not far from the podium," he continued. "I don't really want to put a marker on what I want to achieve; I just know that I'd like to go better than previously, and with the condition and consistency I've had this year, I don't see why not."
Simon Yates has come through the Giro d'Italia without illness or a significant dip in form and will start the Tour de France as a mountain domestique for his brother. The news of Simon Yates' inclusion is very likely an indication that he will not defend his Vuelta a España crown later in the year.
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The rest of the team is made up of powerful rouleurs, one more specialist climber and fast finisher Matteo Trentin.
Jack Haig will make his long-awaited Tour de France debut after recently impressing at the Critérium du Dauphiné, while the nucleus of the team comprises Chris Juul Jensen, Daryl Impey, Luke Durbridge, and Michael Hepburn.
Trentin will have the freedom to target reduced-bunch-sprint stages and via breakaways, but this is very much a team designed to protect Adam Yates in the first half of the race and one that should offer plenty of support in the 'medium mountains' before Haig and Simon Yates are called into duty.
"Our primary goal is to give Adam Yates every chance possible to arrive on the podium come Paris," said head sports director Matt White, "but our secondary goal is also to win a stage.
"We have a good combination of riders who can help achieve those goals, and, to get a result as a key GC rider, you are very much reliant on the strength of the team. If we can continue to support Adam as we did Simon at the Giro, then this will only enhance Adam's chances of a solid result," he said.
Mitchelton-Scott Tour de France team in full: Luke Durbridge, Jack Haig, Michael Hepburn, Daryl Impey, Chris Juul Jensen, Matteo Trentin, Adam Yates, Simon Yates.
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