Adam Yates (opens in new tab) (Mitchelton Scott (opens in new tab)) was nearly pinned down in the Peyresourde on stage 8 of the Tour de France (opens in new tab) after a vicious attack battle. He defended his yellow jersey, kept his own pace, and finished safely with the favorites.

The first points, which Yates appeared to be struggling with, came with the first move by Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates).

Neither Yates nor defending champion Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) could follow, but then the leading trio picked up the pace.

Yates, who was not fortunate enough to have a teammate, managed to stay in contention in the leading pack behind, and with a few kilometers to go, he chased down Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis). His grip on the yellow, however, was marginal.

"The climb [of Peyres Sur] was quite hard. I let a breakaway get away early on, but Jumbo Visma really worked hard and I just had to hang on," Yates said at the post-stage press conference.

Asked about what happened on the climb when Jumbo-Visma's acceleration shredded the lead group, Yates said his feelings were not so good when the Dutch Giro d'Italia winner began to pack up at the front.

"I was feeling good, but Tom Dumoulin set a really fast pace. I had to ride my pace, come back with my time, and stay with them at the front."

He said he was not surprised that Jumbo Visma set a high rhythm up front in Peyresourde at the expense of Dumoulin's own GC goals.

"Like I said yesterday, this is the first big test, the first real big mountain stage," he said. With this pace, I'm sure I'll be able to cut into the times of the other riders."

Yates survived Mont Aigoual well, and despite being isolated from his teammates, as he was at the end of Saturday's stage, he held on to his lead through stage 7 in Echelon. Despite a slight wobble in the first major Pyrenean climb, he held yellow, so the question of whether to switch his pre-race goal from stage to GC was an inevitable one.

"I want to take it one day at a time. It's pretty hard to throw away the lead," Yates said, adding, "It's not every day you get to lead in the Tour de France.

"But if the time comes and I lose the jersey and lose more time, I'll start going for the stages.

On paper, stage 9 is slightly easier than stage 8, with longer distances between major challenges and only two first-class mountains instead of three. However, the final section, the Marie Blanc pass, is fiercely steep, and the descent continues steeply until the finish in Larne. The Pyrenean yellow battle for Yates is far from over.