BURY cycling Adam Yates will join Team Ineos from next season – meaning he will not race alongside twin brother Simon from 2021.  

The 28-year-old will join on a two-year deal from Mitchelton-Scott, the Australian-registered team where he has raced alongside Simon since the pair turned professional in 2014.

Simon, the 2018 Vuelta a Espana winner, committed his future to Mitchelton-Scott earlier this week, signing a two-year deal of his own, though the brothers have emphasised throughout their careers that they were never a package deal.

“The prospect of riding for a British team is one that I am extremely excited about,” said Adam after agreeing the switch to the former Team Sky, who have won seven of the past eight editions of the Tour de France – six with British riders.

“I’ve witnessed the rise of cycling in the UK during my career and I think this has been spurred on by success of British riders and this team.”

He is due to race this year’s Tour, though the rider that finished fourth overall back in 2016 will not target the yellow jersey but instead pursue stage victories after seeing his general classification hopes frustrated in each of the past two editions.

Yates has two top-10 finishes in Grand Tours to his name, having come home ninth in the 2017 Giro d’Italia, while he has won a number of week-long stage races and one-day events.

He was declared the winner of the UAE Tour in February this year after the race was aborted with two stages to go due to a suspected coronavirus outbreak.

By joining a team which has made winning Grand Tours its business, however, Yates will now look to build on the potential over three weeks shown earlier in his career.

“It is an exciting opportunity and one that I feel has come at the right time,” he added.

“My results in week-long races and one-day races have been really solid but I would like to take that consistency to Grand Tour racing with the INEOS Grenadiers and see where it takes me.”

Ineos team principal Sir Dave Brailsford said: “As a global team with a British heart, Adam’s no-nonsense British character is a perfect fit.”