SIMON Yates expects to one day be battling it out for the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, alongside his twin brother Adam, after following his lead to win the best young rider's title at this year's event.

The 24-year-old former Derby High School pupil finished the three-week race in Paris on Sunday with a 2mins 6secs lead over Louis Meinjtes – his closest rival for the white jersey.

It was the Bury rider's biggest success to date, and came 12 months after his sibling became the first Brit ever to win the white jersey since it was introduced in 1975.

They are the only brothers ever to share the white jersey – for riders aged under 26 – which is seen as an important rite of passage for anyone hoping to compete for general classification honours.

A host of former winners, including Andy Schleck, Alberto Contador, Jan Ulrich and Marco Pantani, have gone on to claim the yellow jersey.

And Simon Yates is not shy in admitting that is the long-term goal, both for himself and his brother.

"It’s nice to keep it (the white jersey) in the family, and we hope we can turn them into another colour one day," he said.

“I think it’s a great thing. I hope it’s one of those things we look back on and see it was a great achievement that we’ve won the white jersey as brothers back-to-back.”

Matt White, Simon Yates' team boss at Orica-Scott, set the honorary Bury Clarion member the twin aim of winning the white jersey and claiming a top-10 finish at the start of his third attempt at the Tour.

He achieved that after rolling across the finish line in Paris in seventh place, 6mins 14secs behind overall winner Chris Froome.

The feat is all the more remarkable considering only five other British riders – Adam Yates, Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Robert Miller (now Phillipa York) and Tom Simpson – have finished cycling's blue riband event in the top 10.

It is fair to say Simon had to dig deep along the way, doing much better than expected on the two time-trials and sticking with the main contenders in the opening two weeks before hanging on in the last two mountain stages as South African Meinjtes ate into his lead.

The youngster showed real maturity to preserve his energy in the punishing Alpine climbs, preferring to lose time on Froome et al than push too hard and risk riding into the red,

He believes the experienced gained over the run-in will stand him in good stead.

“I tried when I could to attack but also saved energy by staying in the wheels when it was the right time too,” Yates said.

“Whenever I have the opportunity to attack I like to race aggressive. I think it’s great for the fans, but riding GC is also about picking the right time to do that and the right time to sit back and I am learning that.

“A lot of things have contributed to this throughout the three weeks. I had a good prologue and it was actually earlier in the race when I made the most difference.

"Louis had a great ride and clawed a lot of time back on me but I managed to hang on.

“From the time I joined the team, we knew this is what we were aiming to do – riding for general classification.

"We approached it like any other race, with no pressure and I think that’s the best way to do it.

“The team did a fantastic job from the very beginning. They know me, they know how I ride and I want to thank them for everything they’ve done the past few weeks.”

White was quick to praise his young rider, who, along with Adam Yates and expert climber Colombian Esteban Chaves, he expects to be racing for the top honours in the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana for many years to come.

“Our Tour de France campaign has definitely been a success,” White said.

“The development that Simon has shown these last few weeks has been a big step up. We are proud with how all of the boys have ridden. We had a very specific focus and we weren’t shy in stating our goals at the start of this Tour.

“It’s been a gradual process for this team to learn to ride for the general classification over the past 18 months. We have learnt in every Grand Tour and we’ve had a different group in each Grand Tour.

“We know that our leaders can podium and they are only going to get better.

"Now we also know that no matter who is at what race, we have different combinations to support them.”