After 182 kilometres around Bilbao, Adam Yates took the first yellow jersey of the 2023 Tour de France. Tadej Pogacar's team-mate and his twin brother Simon Yates (Team Jayco-AlUla) had broken away from the rest of the favourites after the final climb of the day.
"I don't even know what to say. We prepared everything for Tadej (Pogacar) on the last climb and he attacked. I came back from behind on the descent. My brother caught up with me and we worked together. I asked on the radio if I could get a free ride and they told me to go," explained Adam Yates at the finish.
Tour de France 2023: Tadej Pogacar 3rd on stage 1
Pogacar himself reached the finish 12 seconds behind and won the sprint of the first chasing group, which also included Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) - Tour de France winner in 2022 - as well as Bora-Hansgrohe captain Jai Hindley. Pogacar thus scored four bonus seconds by finishing third on stage 1, while Vingegaard came away empty-handed. The best German rider was Hindley's team-mate Emanuel Buchmann in 24th place, 33 seconds behind the day's winner Adam Yates.
Meanwhile, Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) narrowly missed out on the first mountain jersey when he lost the decisive sprint on the penultimate climb to Neilson Powless (EF Education EasyPost).
The top 10 of stage 1 of the 2023 Tour de France
- Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) 4:22:49
- Simon Yates (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:04
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +0:12
- Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) +0:12
- Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:12
- Victor Lafay (Cofidis) +0:12
- Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:12
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +0:12
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +0:12
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +0:12
Tour de France stage 1: Favourite Mas has to give up
The opening stage did not go completely without a crash, and two well-known riders were caught out. Vuelta runner-up Enric Mas (Movistar) and Olympic champion Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) crashed on the descent of the Cote de Vivero. Mas had to abandon the race, Carapaz continued but lost a lot of time. Following the death of Gino Mäder, who fell into a ravine on a descent at the Tour de Suisse in mid-June and died a day later, the safety debate had accompanied the Tour in the run-up to the race - and is likely to remain a major issue.
However, all eyes were on the duel between the two big favourites on the steep climb to the Cote de Pike a good ten kilometres before the finish. With gradients of up to 15.6 per cent, Pogacar launched an initial attack that only a few riders were able to follow. But Vingegaard was literally glued to the Slovenian's rear wheel. On the descent, a larger group came together again, from which the two Yates brothers broke away.
Pogacar stacks deep
"Jonas is the top favourite," Pogacar had said before the Grand Depart and referred to his still unhealed scaphoid after the crash at the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic in the spring: "I'm still a long way from being fully mobile again, I'm maybe at 60 or 70 per cent." There was not much evidence of this at the start in the Basque Country.
At the roadside, several hundred thousand spectators provided an impressive backdrop, which came as no surprise to Simon Geschke. "I'm at the Tour of the Basque Country almost every year. The atmosphere in the Basque Country is in the top league. The Basques are completely crazy," said the 37-year-old, who rode nine days in the mountain jersey last year. The fact that this time, unlike the last Tour de France start in the Basque Country in 1992, a Spaniard did not take the first yellow jersey with the great Miguel Indurain, did not dampen the enthusiasm in Bilbao.
Stage 2 of the 2023 Tour de France also in the Basque Country
The three-day Tour guest appearance in Spain continues on Sunday with the second stage over 208.9 kilometres from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastian. Once again, five mountain classifications await. The sprinters are likely to be left behind by the Jaizkibel, the last climb a good 16 kilometres before the finish, when the route climbs an average of 5.3 per cent over a distance of eight kilometres.
