Adam Yates will not simply be riding as one of Tom Pidcock‘s support riders at Sunday’s World Championship men’s road race in Montréal. National coach Stephen Park is putting forward Yates as a second spearhead, making the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider a genuine co-leader for Great Britain. This news gives the 34-year-old who spent the summer supporting Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France a protected leadership role . It is a significant tactical shift ahead of what promises to be one of the most open World Championships in years.
Until now, it was thought that Pidcock’s squad
was built around one clear leader and four domestiques, with Yates identified primarily as a Montréal specialist who could prove useful in the closing stages.
Park’s designation changes that picture entirely. Rather than simply reading the race for Pidcock, Yates now has the freedom to pursue his own result, forcing rival teams to cover two British riders instead of one.
Pidcock: ‘You race on instinct and the legs do the talking’
“A World Championships is actually quite simple. You race a bit on instinct and ‘the legs do the talking'”
– Tom Pidcock
Pidcock’s relaxed words paint the picture of a rider who wants tactical freedom rather than a rigid script. Having Yates freed from pure domestique duties supports that approach perfectly. If Pidcock follows his instincts on the Côte Camillien-Houde and gets caught, Britain’s race is far from over. Yates remains as a dangerous second card to play in the closing laps.
Pidcock described
the GP Montréal, where he finished sixth two weeks ago, as “a super-hard race” and warned that “the Worlds are going to be incredibly attritional,”. He has spoken this week about the confidence he draws from his career trajectory since leaving INEOS, and his results back up that belief. Now, with a co-leader alongside him, Pidcock can race with even more freedom on Sunday.
Read more below the photo!
Adam Yates will face his UAE teammates Del Toro and Sivakov as rivals in Montréal
A tactical mirror of Belgium’s dual-leader approach
Britain’s decision to field two protected leaders mirrors the dynamic that has dominated the
pre-race conversation about Belgium. For rivals facing a team with dual leadership, controlling every move by one rider inevitably opens up opportunities for the other. Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert give Belgium two distinct tactical paths, and Belgium can attack with Evenepoel or wait for Van Aert. Britain, with Pidcock and Yates, now presents a similar puzzle on a smaller scale.
The dynamic suits the Montréal circuit. The repeated climbs, long distance, and unpredictable final kilometres mean a team with multiple options does not need to control the race from the front. Instead, it can force rivals into difficult choices by creating several possible winners. Yates won the GP Montréal in 2023, attacking on the final lap of the Côte Camillien-Houde to ride clear of the field. He knows exactly where the race can be won. Most recently, he finished 13th at this year’s edition.
With defending champion Tadej Pogačar absent after crashing out of the Vuelta a España, the road race is wide open. France have numbers and one clear leader in Paul Seixas. Mexico have a GP Montréal winner in Isaac del Toro but far less depth around him. For those teams, Britain’s co-leadership is one more variable to manage. Two riders with permission to attack is always harder to police than one, and on a course that demands 12 laps of attrition, Park’s gamble could prove to be the smartest tactical call of the day.
Read more below the photo!
Oscar Onley won the young riders’ jersey at the 2026 Vuelta a España
Yates, Not Onley, named co leader with Pidcock in Montréal
Many, including us, thought Parks would name
Oscar Onley if there was to be a co-leader alongside Pidcock in Montréal. The 24-year-old Scot had an
outstanding Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espańa, finishing 6th overall and winning the white jersey.
Yates, on the other hand, withdrew from the Giro d’Italia after an opening weekend crash and struggled through the Tour de France with Illness. He did come 13th at the 2026 GP Montréal, a key warm-up race for the World Championships, but here he was racing on behalf of teammate Isaac del Toro,
who won the race. Yates won the GP Montreal himself
in 2023.No doubt this, plus Yates’s multiple other appearances at World Championships between 2013 and 2019, saw him picked as co-leader with Pidcock for this punchy Montréal course.
