Saturday 23 July 2016 21:14, UK
Adam Yates said all but securing fourth place and the best young rider’s white jersey at the Tour de France is “just the beginning”.
The 23-year-old Briton is set to finish the race 4min 42sec down on winner-in-waiting Chris Froome and just 21 seconds adrift of the podium after an outstanding performance over the past three weeks.
He had not intended to mount a challenge in the general classification but has now announced himself as a potential Tour winner of the future.
Yates, who only made his Tour debut last year, told ITV Sport: "Here we are, fourth in the GC [general classification], only one day to go in Paris, but unless anything bad happens, that's where we should finish. I'm super-happy and just glad it's all over.
"Yesterday wasn't my best day and I lost out on the podium, but like I have been saying, it's only my second Tour de France and I'm still 23. This is just the beginning.
"It's not like I'm about to retire. For sure, I will be back in the future to fight for the podium, and if not more. On to next year."
The only dampener on Yates' achievement was the absence of his twin brother, Simon, who would have been in Orica-BikeExchange's Tour had he not been serving a four-month suspension for testing positive for the asthma drug terbutaline.
Yates added: "It would have been good. Obviously, it's a little bit of a bad situation, but he is doing well and he will be back for the Vuelta [a Espana]."
The Tour concludes on Sunday with a 113km 21st stage from Chantilly to Paris. Find out more about the route in our race guide and follow the action with our live blog from 3pm BST.
