TOUR de France white jersey winners Simon and Adam Yates are set to ride a Grand Tour together for the first time after both being named in the Orica-Scott team for the Vuelta a Espana, which starts on Saturday.

The Bury-born twins are two of the sport's hottest prospects after winning the Tour de France's prize for the best young rider in consecutive years.

Adam became the first British rider to claim the prize in 2016, but sat out the race this year to concentrate on the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta, leaving Simon to lead the Orica-Scott challenge in the Tour de France.

Simon was seventh overall, achieving his twin aim of winning the white jersey and finishing in the top 10.

But the honorary Bury Clarion member will largely be supporting his brother at the Vuelta, with Adam and Colombian climber Esteban Chaves leading Orica-Scott's challenge for general classification honours in the three-week race.

Neil Stephens, sport director at Orica-Scott, said he was excited by the prospect of fielding the team's best three GC prospects in the same Grand Tour event for the first time.

“We have the best general classification riders we can put together, we have all three of them here, and that is going to be a bit of a challenge,” he said, as the Yates twins prepare to ride in two Grand Tour events in a single season for the first time in their careers.

“It’s an exciting challenge for us all to focus on, but at the end of the day the team is our leader and all three riders have always fully committed to that.

“We did it at the Vuelta last year with Simon and Esteban. Despite finishing with a top 10 himself, Simon was selfless in his support of Esteban in the final stages as he earned a podium finish.

“The aim is a team result in Madrid, who it is (leading the way), it doesn’t matter.”

Adam Yates was frustrated at the Giro earlier in the season, when he was caught up in an early crash that saw him drop out of the top 10 following a promising start.

But he battled back to eventually finish ninth, and only missed out on the prize for the tour's best young rider in the final time trial.

The 25-year-old showed he his bang in form with a fifth-place finish in the recent Tour of Poland, just 13 seconds behind the overall winner, and is expected to live up to his undoubted potential in the Vuelta.

The course is a punishing 3324.1km long, starting from Nimes in France on Saturday and finishing in Madrid on Sunday, September 10.

It will together tackle six flat stages, eight hilly stages, five mountain stages and a team and individual time trial.

“The race ramps up as it goes,” said Stephens. “In the first half of the Vuelta there’s some surprisingly difficult stages that don’t look that difficult on paper, but might catch people off guard.

“When we start getting towards the south of Spain there’s some difficult stages and the general classification will start to really take shape. From there we go to the second time trial, which is going to be important, and we finish with a very difficult last week.

“Looking at the quality of rivals, if we were able to repeat what we did last year and get on the podium in Madrid that would be a really fantastic result.”

Vuelta a Espana stages

Saturday, 19 Aug: Stage 1 - Nimes TTT (13.7km)

Sunday, 20 Aug: Stage 2 - Nimes to Gruissan (203.4km)

Monday, 21 Aug: Stage 3 – Prades Conflent Canigo to Andorra la Vella (158.5km)

Tuesday, 22 Aug: Stage 4 – Escaldes-Engordany to Tarragona (198.2km)

Wednesday, 23 Aug: Stage 5 – Benicassim to Alcossebre (157.7km)

Thursday, 24 Aug: Stage 6 – Vila-real to Sagunt (204.4km)

Friday, 25 Aug: Stage 7 – Lliria to Cuenca (207km)

Saturday, 26 Aug: Stage 8 – Hellin to Xorret de Cati (199.5km)

Sunday, 27 Aug: Stage 9 – Orihuela to Cumbre del Sol (174km)

Monday, 28 Aug: Rest Day

Tuesday, 29 Aug: Stage 10 – Caravaca Ano Jubilar to ElPozo Alimentacion (164.8km)

Wednesday, 30 Aug: Stage 11 – Lorca to Observatorio Astronomico de Calar Alto (187.5km)

Thursday, 31 Aug: Stage 12 – Montril to Antequera (160.1km)

Friday, 1 Sep: Stage 13 – Coin to Tomares (198.4km)

Saturday, 2 Sep: Stage 14 – Ecija to Sierra de la Pandera (175km)

Sunday, 3 Sep: Stage 15 – Alcala la Real to Sierra Nevada (129km)

Monday, 4 Sep: Rest Day

Tuesday, 5 Sep: Stage 16 – Circuito de Navarra to Logrono (40.2km)

Wednesday, 6 Sep: Stage 17 – Villadiego to Los Machucos (180.5km)

Thursday, 7 Sep: Stage 18 – Suances to Santo Toribio de Liebana (169km)

Friday, 8 Sep: Stage 19 – Caso to Gijon (149.7km)

Saturday, 9 Sep: Stage 20 – Corvera de Asturias to Alto de l’Angliru (117.5km)

Sunday, 10 Sep: Stage 21 – Arroyomolinos to Madrid (117.6km).