Fifth at the Tour of the Basque Country, sixth in Romandie and now fifth – and best young rider – at the Criterium du Dauphine. Things are looking good for Simon Yates.

He and twin brother Adam have burst onto the scene in stunning style since joining Orica-GreenEDGE last year and if the evidence of the Dauphine is anything to go by, their phenomenal rise is showing little sign of slowing.

Adam’s 20th place overall shows he too is in decent shape ahead of his Tour de France debut, while Simon paid little heed to reputations as he repeatedly attacked the big names.

Only once, on stage seven, did he falter and even then he roared back to keep hold of his lead in the best young rider classification, finishing second on the final stage behind Chris Froome (Team Sky) and out-climbing the likes of Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). Illustrious company indeed.

The man sandwiched by the two Bury-born Yates brothers in the youth classification, Romain Bardet, is in equally good form – as his stage five victory proved – and the Ag2r-La Mondiale rider is bidding to improve on last year’s sixth place at the Tour.

Between that trio, and with last year’s white jersey winner Thibaut Pinot also in the mix, there could be plenty of cause for celebration for the next generation of elite riders at the Tour. And that’s not to mention a certain Nairo Quintana (Movistar).