Wandering through the paddock of stage two of the Tour de France, in a utilitarian car park on the edge of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the wearer of the yellow jersey was as usual the focus of attention. Only it wasn’t Adam Yates, the holder of the maillot jaune after his stage one heroics in Bilbao that was turning heads, it was his dog, Zoe.
The pedigree Samoyed was sitting outside the UAE Team Emirates bus wearing a tight-fitting yellow jersey, ably marshalled by Yates’s then fiancée, Lisa. The day before, Zoe’s owner had done what only three British riders had ever done, and won the opening stage of the Tour, and the first yellow jersey as a result.
“It’s been good. I like to rate seasons on wins and I got five this year”
Yates is not one for attention or adulation, so it helped having a white cloud of a dog present to distract on that Sunday morning. “I’m not too bothered by it all, I get on with the job,” he tells CW in October. “I know what I’m there for, I’m not great with the media stuff, so I just try and
