Sean Yates (born 18 May 1960) is an English former professional cyclist and directeur sportif. Career Yates competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics, finishing sixth in the 4,000m individual pursuit. As an amateur in 1980, he won the British 25-mile individual time trial championship, and took the national record for 10-mile time trials with 19m 44s. As an amateur Yates rode for Athletic Club Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris, Europe's most successful sports club with fellow British riders Kevin Reilly from Southport, John Herety and Jeff Williams. Yates first race for the ACBB was the Grand Prix de Saint-Tropez which he won by riding off the front of the peloton. Yates won fifteen races in total for the ACBB and also finished third in the prestigious individual time trial Grand Prix des Nations which was won by Martial Gayant. Yates had developed a reputation as a strong time trialist and for an incredible turn of speed and power. He turned professional in 1982 for Peugeot riding alongside Graham Jones, Phil Anderson, Robert Millar and Stephen Roche. He stayed with Peugeot for six seasons and became British professional individual pursuit champion in 1982 and 1983. In 1988 riding for Fagor, he won the sixth stage of the Tour de France, a 52 km time-trial, beating Roberto Visentini by 14 seconds and Tony Rominger by 23 seconds. That year he also won a stage at the Vuelta a España, Paris–Nice, Midi-Libre and finished fourth overall in the Tour of Britain. In 1989 he joined the American team, 7-Eleven and took two stages and overall victory in the Tour of Belgium, won the Grand Prix Eddy Merckx and finished second in Gent–Wevelgem. In 1991 Yates then moved to Motorola, where he rode with Lance Armstrong. During stage six of the 1994 Tour de France Yates got into a breakaway and took the overall lead by one second over Gianluca Bortolami. He became only the third Briton to wear the yellow jersey. He wore it for one day and after Bradley Wiggins won the 2012 Tour de France he sold it to him; this has become Wiggins' most prized possession in his collection. Yates retired in 1996 having competed in 12 Tours, completing nine; 45th was his best placing overall. Yates spent much of his 15-year career as a domestique. He was powerful on flat stages and noted as a descender of mountains. For a rouleur