On stage 15 of the Tour de France, Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) temporarily and unexpectedly left the Slovenian behind after setting a furious pace for his teammate and overall contender Tadej Pogachar in the ongoing battle for third place overall, He became an almost unintended protagonist.

Yates' aggressive move on Sunday to win the opening stage in Bilbao and take the maillot jaune was later explained by lead sport director Joxen Fernandez-Mazin as part of Pogachar's bridge-building strategy.

"Honestly, I have no idea where I stand in the GC. I honestly have no idea where I stand in the GC. I was just pressing full throttle and praying that Taddeji would come closer.

By the finish to St. Gervais-Mont-Blanc, Pogachar and Vingegaard had passed him, leaving him 20 seconds behind the top two overall. Yates, however, overtook the injured Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) and closed in on Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers). As one journalist told him, "The battle for third place is really intense.

Fourth place overall in the 2016 Tour, which also earned him the Best Young Rider jersey, remains Yates' highest GC finish. Yates claimed that he left Pogachar behind not because he "had a little problem with the radio," but because he "thought on my feet and tried to use the situation to my advantage."

"I'm still at the top of the GC, so if Tadej lets me go, Jumbo has to go after him.

"Today was a little unexpected, but these little things add up over three weeks.

He denied that he is putting up the best climbing performance of his career, but rather said the key difference in this year's Tour is that he is "more consistent." In any case, his response of "fuck, yeah" when it was pointed out that Monday was a rest day made it clear that a break from alpine racing would be most welcome.

For the UAE team management, after Yates' moment in the limelight, the focus of their race is on Pogachar and closing the gap between Vingegaard and the Slovenians in the yellow jersey by 10 seconds.

"They are both very strong riders and today we tried a different tactic on Adam," said Pogachar.

"It was to see if Tadej could cross and see if the two of us could widen the gap. I was also interested in Adam gaining time on GC, but my priority remained yellow."

"I have full confidence in Tadej and the whole team is at a great level, we're not going to settle for second place, we're going to do our best and we'll see what we can do.