BURY cycling twins Adam and Simon Yates raced superbly on the final weekend of the Tour de France with fine performances on Stage 20 on Saturday placing them in the top four ahead of Sunday’s procession into Paris and the finish line.

Ahead of the final day, Adam sat third with Simon in fourth overall - the former Bury Clarion pair again proving their ability in endurance events.

On Saturday, Tadej Pogacar outsprinted Jonas Vingegaard to victory on stage 20 in Le Markstein, but it was Dane Vingegaard who could begin celebrating the defence of his title ahead of Sunday’s procession.

Pogacar proved unable to challenge Vingegaard for yellow in the final week of this race as his hopes evaporated in the Alps, but he made a point on the final mountain test as he beat Vingegaard in a five-man sprint at the end of the 133km stage from Belfort.

Felix Gall snuck ahead of Vingegaard for second place on the day, while Simon and Adam Yates came in fourth and fifth, results that seal third overall for Adam and move Simon up to fourth after an early crash left Carlos Rodriguez bloodied above his left eye.

Vingegaard carried a lead of 7mins 29secs on to the Champs-Elysees on Sunday as he prepared to celebrate his second Tour crown at the age of 26.

“The second one is really amazing,” the Jumbo-Visma rider said. “Of course there’s the stage tomorrow into Paris and we have to be careful not to do anything stupid, but to take my second victory in the Tour de France I almost can’t believe it.”

Meanwhile, both Yates twins could celebrate their best overall result in the Tour, with Adam improving on his fourth place from 2016.

“For me personally third is the best result I’ve ever had in a Grand Tour so obviously I’m pretty happy,” the UAE Team Emirates rider said. “We’re a little bit disappointed as our goal was to get yellow, but in the end there was only one guy better than us.”