Mitchelton-Scott's Adam Yates dropped two places in the individual time trial on stage 20, which finished with a climb of La Planche des Belle Fils on Saturday, and enters Paris for the final stage of this year's Tour de France in ninth place overall.

Yates finished the stage in 23rd place, 4:27 behind stage winner and 2020 Tour de France champion Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates).

The British climber admitted that he might have hoped for a better performance on the climbs during the time trial, but struggled to find his rhythm. Nevertheless, Yates enjoyed the Tour, wearing the yellow of the leader's jersey for the four days from stage 5 to stage 9. After losing the yellow to Jumbo-Visma's Primoš Roglic, Yates was then involved in a GC battle, even though he had come into this Tour looking for a stage win.

Ninth place overall is also the 28-year-old's second best finish in five Tour de France editions, after finishing fourth in the 2016 event and winning the white jersey as best young rider He also finished ninth in the 2017 Giro d'Italia.

"It wasn't my best performance today," Yates admitted at the finish of stage 20. He said, "I paced myself well in the flat sections early on, but as the road surface became more rugged, it became more difficult to pace myself and I just couldn't find my rhythm.

While most of the top 10 GC riders switched from time trial bikes to road bikes for the final climb, Yates stayed on his time trial bike.

"I did my best. And tomorrow I have another big chance for the "Mezza,"" Yates said. Sunday's final stage to the Champs-Élysées is another chance for the Australian WorldTour team to try for a stage win in this Tour for sprinter Luca Medjeck, who has twice finished second in stages (both behind Sunweb's Søren Kragu Andersen) It will be.

Yates will move to Ineos Grenadiers in 2021 after seven years with Mitchelton-Scott, while his twin brother Simon has signed a two-year contract extension to remain with the Australian team.