It's been a busy start to the year at Team Sky for Sports Director Sean Yates and we've taken advantage of a quick gap in the schedule to catch up with him and get his take on events so far.

Yates is one of only four British cyclists to ever to wear the most famous garment in the sport - the yellow jersey of the Tour de France leader - and also brings years of top-level experience to his role as DS so he's perfectly placed to assess the progress that has been made at the two races he's been in charge of thus far - the Tour Down Under and the Etoile de Bessèges.

The year began in a blaze of glory, with Yates at the helm as the seven-man squad gave Team Sky the perfect start in their debut race at the Tour Down Under, winning both the Criterium and the final stage in Adelaide.

Greg Henderson, who finished third overall, and Chris Sutton notched a one-two in the curtain-raiser while it was Sutton who led home Henderson to round things off in style in the finale.

It was the ideal way to begin the campaign and an experience that Yates relished, though he was quick to credit the seven riders.

"Basically it was down to them and how much they wanted it," he told us. "The guys really lifted their game and the fact they won twice showed how determined they were to stick to the plan and not let one another down. From my point of view it was something to behold."

The ruthless efficiency of the Team Sky lead-out train, especially so early in the season, caught the eye as it delivered Henderson and Sutton to their respective wins.

"When you're watching on TV or talking about the lead-out train, it seems simple," said Yates. "You stick to each other's wheel and you get to the front - but in reality it's a little different. It's another ball game. It's bloody hard - if it was that easy every Tom, Dick or Harry would do it."

Challenging Columbia

Yates was particularly pleased that his charges threw down a real challenge to the HTC-Columbia outfit which dominated sprint finishes around the world in 2009.

He explained: "In the last year or so it has been Columbia having it all their own way and everyone else sitting back and swinging on the wheels.

"But our guys took them on and played them at their own game and came out on top twice.

"In a sense Columbia were also lucky that [overall winner] André Greipel was so strong as that allowed him to win despite the fact that sometimes their train came apart. In fairness that was down to the amount of work they had to do during the stage to preserve the jersey but if Greipel hadn't been that strong they wouldn't have won as many stages."

Team Sky's build-up to the race itself went very much to plan, laying the foundations for the success. And that preparation was something that Yates, a DS with some of the biggest and best teams in the world, including Tour de France winners Astana last season, thoroughly enjoyed.

He said: "Working with these guys in training was great. I've never really worked with a sprinting team before; it's always been Grand Tours-type style. So for these guys to come out training and practice their lead-outs and discuss who's going to swing off where and so on was really quite exciting for me.

"Then again practice is one thing so it was great that in the race they also came up with the goods and delivered. There had been plenty of what you could call hype surrounding the team but at the end of the day it's how much the riders want it."

Back in Europe

Yates then travelled back to Europe for the Etoile des Bessèges in southern France where Team Sky fielded a completely different seven-man team.

The race was marked by a succession of bunch sprints - very much against type for the event - and a bug that swept through the peloton but there was still plenty to gain for a Team Sky squad without an out-and-out sprinter, as Yates explained.

He said: "We were disappointed in terms of not getting a result. Obviously with the success we had in Australia it starts you off on a high but the reality is that some races you go there and it becomes a training race, you can't hit off in every single race.

"That's not a defeatist attitude, it's reality so you have to accept that and get on with it. It could easily have rolled in our favour too as it was anyone's game until the last day but circumstances dictated it was another sprint finish.

"We were there to train and get used to each other, get used to being a new team and dealing with new circumstances. Michael [Barry, in his article here on TeamSky.com] captured it perfectly when he said the bare result wasn't really a true story of the race for us.

"There were plenty of plus points - Peter Kennaugh, a neopro, had his first week of racing, Nicolas Portal is back after not having raced for a while. Steve [Cummings] was going well after Marseillaise and we covered things well but the right group never really went away. One French team always seemed to miss the break so they obviously had to chase it and that meant it was always a bunch finish."

Looking ahead

The team now have their second camp in Valencia and that will continue the vital process of binding the squad together and building up their training.

"It is important, especially being a new team," said Yates. "Just getting used to the bikes, testing out time trial bikes, working them in the wind tunnel, getting SRM data and so on - it's another step on the road to success.

"It's about generating a group, laying down that logistic and getting to know one another. It will be very different next year because we'll be a second-year team on the road rather than a brand new one.

"It is a big, big job getting a new team up from scratch - those that have done that have had a mammoth task, especially when you want to be at the forefront of everything.

"They've had great track success but putting this together is a bigger ask compared to building up a national squad over a number of years. We're hitting the road straight away - within a month we're going to the likes of Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico so there's a lot to do."

Next up for Yates on the race front is the Vuelta a Andalucia or the 'Ruta del Sol' from February 21-25 and he's expecting a prominent showing.

"It's quite a hard race but we've got a top team down there," he confirmed. "As to our objectives they'll become clearer nearer the time - I don't know what Brad [Wiggins] is going to pinpoint for example or how hard Serge [Pauwels] wants to go on the mountain top finish on the first stage.

"Obviously Greg [Henderson]'s on a great roll at the moment - the stages are fairly hard but he's going that well he can get over some of these climbs and if the other sprinters can't then we could be in a good position to win a couple of stages. I'm certainly hoping we can continue the run of success."