Ramon Koran said:
I'm sure in the Orica team car and Adam himslef decided that the risk exceeded the reward. Seriously who cares who finished third in the tour only the winner counts, he's won the white jersey and finished forth, great winners like Alberto don't care about podiums nor should Adam, it seems to me that the biggest failures in modern cycling are those that are overjoyed with a podium (andy, nairo, pinot and maybe bardet).
Then overjoying the fourth place should be way worse. Who is gonna remember who ended 4th?. Once you have demonstrated that you could be with the great OC contenders in the climbs, it doesnt really matter in terms of prestige or wages if you end up 4th or you lose the place by risking to get a better prize (Zakarin). I would even say public actually remember the people who risks even if they failed.
Of course Yates has achieved a great result, but the temper he has shown sucks. He is just one more conformist rider in the bunch of "contenders". Just 20 secs, and he just said "surrender" not even trying once. I would call it "pathetic" of course, the attitude of course, not the effort.