(Bilbao) Briton Adam Yates (UAE) donned the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France 2023 on Saturday in Bilbao, winning the first stage ahead of his twin brother Simon Yates, who rides for the Jayco-AlUla team.
The second from the last Dauphiné broke away with his brother on the descent of the Pike hill, 9 kilometers from the finish, to win with a four-second lead. His Slovenian teammate Tadej Pogacar sprinted out a small group of favorites who arrived 12 seconds later.
Canadian Michael Wood took the 5e rank as Quebecers Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin finished respectively in 90e and 111e position.
It is, at 30, the first stage victory on the Grande Boucle for Adam Yates who had already worn the yellow jersey for four days in 2020.
The two main Tour de France favorites, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar have neutralized each other. They crossed the fearsome Pike hill (2 km at 10%) in the lead in the company of Frenchman Victor Lafay, but without really attacking each other.
At one point, the Slovenian, who is coming back from a broken wrist, nodded to ask his Danish rival to take over, but the latter shook his head.
In the descent to Bilbao, Adam Yates, who was promoted to co-leader of the UAE team, took the opportunity to launch the offensive and get the stage as well as the ten bonus seconds promised to the leader.
Pogacar also raised his arms as he crossed the line, to salute his teammate’s victory. Third in the stage, he also pocketed four bonus seconds.
The Slovenian arrived at the head of a small group in which appeared, in addition to Vingegaard, the French David Gaudu and Thibaut Pinot, or even Wout Van Aert.
The two big losers of the day are the Spaniard Enric Mas, who retired after a fall on the descent of the penultimate climb of the day, falling at the same time as another contender for the podium, Richard Carapaz.
The Ecuadorian was able to restart, but lost all hope for the general classification after being on the ground for long minutes.
