SIMON Yates is taking nothing for granted in the final week of the Tour de France after reaching the second rest day with a tight grasp on the white jersey.

The Bury rider's twin brother, Adam, last year became the first Brit to win the prize, for the Tour's best young competitor, and he looks set to repeat that after finishing Sunday's stage with a 3min 7secs lead over South Africa's Louis Meintjes.

He did his best to eke out a few more seconds on his main rival, joining a breakaway with 40km of the 190km run to Le Puy-en-Velay remaining and then attacking again on the final climb when the race had come back together.

But, unlike on Friday and Saturday, when he added valuable seconds to his overall lead in the white jersey, Yates had to be content with finishing alongside Meintjes in the yellow jersey group of race leader Chris Froome.

That left the honorary Bury Clarion member in seventh place overall, 2:02 behind Froome with five stages remaining.

“I like to race aggressively and today (Sunday) was one of those days I could do that,” Yates said.

“I was trying to sneak away, like I did the other day, and get some seconds. It didn’t work out, but that’s okay, it’s worth trying and I gave it a go.

“I had good legs and you look at how close the race is.

"I could have possibly gained 10 seconds, 15 seconds maximum, but I think every second will count when it comes to Paris.”