After finishing ninth overall in the Tirreno-Adriatico in 2015, the Orica-GreenEdge rider came to this year’s race with the intention to win. Those ambitions were crushed yesterday, however, when RCS Sport cancelled the stage the summit finish stage to Monte San Vicino because of predicted cold rain and snow on the four climbs.

“Snowman? There wasn’t snow here to make one,” Yates told Cycling Weekly when quizzed about the weather conditions after riding the two hours from Saturday’s hotel to Sunday’s.

“You have to respect what the organiser says. It’s a tough choice to make. You don’t want to have a situation like Paris-Nice on Wednesday, where the riders are on the side of the road in the snow. I was pretty frustrated at the same time because it was the first big goal of the early season for me. I fought through half of the race. I’ve spent the last two days risking my life, so it’s pretty frustrating really to have this stage cancelled.”

Yates currently finds himself 20th overall behind leader Zdenek Stybar (Etixx–Quick-Step).

With the Tirreno-Adriatico opportunity now evaporated, Yates sets his sights on two other stage races: The Tour of the Basque Country at the start of April and the Tour de Romandie later that month.