This year’s Tour de France has been packed with plenty of action and there’s a big reason that plenty more Brits and Mancs, specifically, have been watching: two of the best riders this year are a couple of brothers from Bury.
If you’re not clued up on the cycling world then you might be forgiven for not knowing the names Adam and Simon Yates and even for those clued up, the blokes from Bury were still considered relative outside contenders before the start of the race.
Nevertheless, the two twins from the Greater Manchester borough have been battling it out right at the top end of the competition and while the current two frontrunners are comfortably ahead of the pack as we head into stage 11, the Yates brothers are still well in contention for top 10 finishes.
If they play their cards right for the remainder of the tour, they could even take third and fourth. Who knows? It’s a long old race.
Emerging as leaders in the opening stage on Saturday, 1 July, Adam Yates took control of the yellow jersey after the first 113 miles with brother Simon in tow right behind him, meaning that there was a one-two finish for the Mancs on the opening weekend.
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Adam ended up finishing in 21st after stage two and behind Simon but retained the yellow jersey and did so right through to stage four after once again finishing first in stage three and still registering a strong time the following day, with Simon still boasting third in the standings at that point.
The leading Bury brother eventually conceded the yellow jersey but only dropped down to fifth overall with the slower of the two Yates sat not far behind in seventh. In fact, by stage seven, Simon had overtaken Adam before the pair swapped places once again.
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Regardless, the two have stayed within touching distance of each other throughout and have been delighting fans back home. Here’s Adam Yates reacting to his first stage win — safe to say, he was a bit knackered…
A delighted but exhausted Adam Yates reflects on his Tour de France stage win 🗣 pic.twitter.com/73S7Bkblq4
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) July 1, 2023
Adam finished fourth in his breakthrough season at TdF 2016 and became the first Brit to win the Vuelta a España in 2018.
Thankfully, the Yates boys happily traded back and forth, sharing each other’s slipstream and maintaining their momentum and have continued to help each other in spells despite under different banners — Adam racing for UAE Team Emirates and Simon with Team Jayco-AlUla.
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Better still, the brothers haven’t let the competition get in the way of the usual familiar banter, posting images with captions like, “Pesky younger brothers hey…” and even a bit of self-deprecation, with Simon joking that he is the “slowest man to ever wear the green jersey.”
Here’s hoping they finish the Tour de France 2023 nice and high and can boast some colours come 23 July. Keep it going lads, us Mancs are right behind you!
Featured Image — Tour de France/Simon Yates/Adam Yates (via Instagram)
Sport
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
12th July 2023 
