Adam Yates spread his arms and drove jubilantly to the finish in Bilbao after the spectacular twin duel with brother Simon. With that, the British professional cyclist rode into the first yellow jersey at the start of the 110th Tour de France in the trembling Basque country.
After 182 intensive kilometers, the 30-year-old from UAE Team Emirates prevailed in front of his brother Simon and his captain Tadej Pogacar. In a duel with the Danish title defender Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), the two-time winner from Slovenia set a first small scent mark in the fight for the tour victory – he is four seconds ahead of his big opponent.
After the last climb and descent, the twins at the top duel
Yates, who had traveled to the Tour as Pogacar’s noble helper, picked up the pace on the last poisonous climb of the day – only his captain and Vingegaard and the strong Frenchman Victor Lafay (Cofidis) could follow. On the ensuing descent, the group caught up with more favorites, while Yates suddenly found himself up front alongside his twin brother from Team Jayco Alula. In the end he had the better legs.
Around half past midnight the tour started in the old town of Bilbao. 31 years after the last Grand Départ in the region, there was a festival atmosphere. When finally at 12.55 the first official of the approximately 3400 kilometers to Paris lined up, things got straight to the point. A breakaway group of five quickly formed, but the field kept them on a short leash – the breakaways never managed more than three minutes.
The German Georg Zimmermann just missed the leap into the mountain jersey
The 176 drivers worked their way through the tricky circuit with over 3000 meters of altitude difference along the picturesque Atlantic coast in pleasant weather conditions. The peloton let the lead group fidget for a long time, but around 50 kilometers from the finish, the quintet at the front ran out of time.
The favorites to win the tour and their teams at the top now presented themselves at the front and noticeably picked up the pace on the penultimate climb of the day. At the summit of the Côte de Vivero, the strong Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) fought for the mountain jersey. The strong climber from Augsburg, one of only seven German starters in the field, had to give way to Neilson Powless in second place in the biggest classification of the day – the American will wear the dotted jersey on Sunday.
Two podium contenders fall – for one of them the Tour is already over on the first day
On the descent of the Côte de Vivero, two riders from the extended circle of podium contenders were caught in a serious fall. Spanish Movistar rider Enric Mas and Olympic champion Richard Carapaz from Ecuador collided and lost a lot of time. Carapaz, for whom at least all ambitions for the general classification ended, continued to torment himself in pain, for Mas, on the other hand, the Tour ended painfully on the first day. In front, the top teams heralded the final.
On Sunday, a very similar stage is on the program – again five categorized climbs have to be overcome, again it goes through the Basque Country on almost continuously undulating terrain. The longest section of this year’s tour leads from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastián over 209 km.