Adam Yates wins Tirreno stage, brother Simon pipped to Paris-Nice overall (+ video)

Adam Yates has won today's Stage 5 of Tirreno -Adriatico, but any chance of a double celebration for his family and the Mitchelton-Scott team were dashed earlier on during Sunday afternoon when twin brother Simon was pipped to the Paris-Nice title after leading the race overnight.

He had moved into the leadership of the French stage race after winning Saturday's queen stage from Nice to Valdeblore La Colmiane but seven riders remained within a minute, with his closest rivals being another sibling pairing, Ion and Gorka Izagirre of Bahrain Merida.

Both were among the main animators of today's short but punchy stage that started and finished in Nice, a short but punchy 110km run into the mountains above the Cote d'Azur with six categorised climbs played out under driving rain.

However, they and Yates crossed the line on the Promenade des Anglais 38 seconds behind stage winner David de la Cruz of Team Sky and Astana's Omar Fraile with Marc Soler of Movistar finishing 3 seconds back in third pace and clinching the overall title by 4 seconds from Yates.

“It was just one of those days, really hard from the start and the team did a really good job," the Briton said afterwards.

"We did as much as we could do, it was a really aggressive race as we expected.”

“When Marc Soler went on the attack there was still a very long way to go and still many rivals to watch and I can't watch or follow everybody, so you have to take the risk sometimes.

"Then in the final I didn’t have the legs to close the gap enough. I was just really empty in the final there and it is just one of those things.”

“Soler did a really good ride, and I congratulate him, he is a very good rider and we have known that for a long time already." 

“I had the stage win yesterday and I am getting closer to winning an overall. I lost Tour of Romandie last year on the last stage in the time trial by 20 or 30 seconds and now I have lost Paris-Nice by 4 seconds.

"I am getting closer, hopefully I can keep improving and working hard and one day I’ll take the top spot but today a great rider won.”

While Simon was seeing Paris-Roubaix slip from his grasp, brother Adam was winning Stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico, which finished in Filottraro, the home town in the Marche region of Michele Scarponi, who was killed by a van driver last year while training for the Giro d'Italia and in whose memory today's stage was dedicated.

The Mitchelton-Scott rider said afterwards: “I've been feeling good for a few days now. I tried a couple of stages ago but I came second.

"The team set me up perfectly before the last climb so I could ride away - all I had to do was attack and hold on the bunch. I finished it off.

It's been a long time since I last won a race. My brother won yesterday at Paris-Nice [and] it gave me some extra motivation for today.

He added; "It's disappointing that I crashed on stage 2 and lost my hopes for GC but that's part of cycling. I would have been in a good position in the GC ...”

Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski, who will defend his Milan-San Remo title next Saturday, moves into the race lead after today's stage just 24 hours after team-mate Geraint Thomas lost it yesterday due to a jammed chain.