Briton Adam Yates won the first stage of the Tour de France by sprinting ahead of his brother Simon Yates, this Saturday July 1 in Bilbao. At 30, he won his first stage victory on the Grande Boucle.
It was a fraternal and British duel that concluded the first stage of this Tour de France 2023, this July 1 in Bilbao. Adam Yates (UAE-Emirates) won ahead of his twin brother Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) and donned the first yellow jersey of this Grande Boucle after a race that was inevitably hotly contested.
Second in the last Dauphiné, Adam Yates broke away alongside his brother in the descent of the Pike hill, 9 kilometers from the finish, before winning at the finish with a four-second lead. At 30, he won his first stage victory in the Tour de France, he who had already worn the yellow jersey for four days in 2020.
” You never know with my brother, I’m very close to him, we see each other every day. It’s very special to be able to share it with him. We are here for Tadej Pogačar, he has been the best in the world in recent years. But I can play another role in the general classification and on the stages, we will work for him for three weeks and we will see the result. I came close to a stage victory several times and I wasn’t too lucky, there I’m very happy Yates said at the end of the race.
The favorites Pogačar and Vingegaard well present
If they did not inaugurate this Tour with a victory, the two big favorites Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard were not left out by showing themselves to be solid from the start. The Slovenian, winner in 2020 and 2021 and teammate of Adam Yates, notably arrived 3rd in the stage with four bonus seconds at the head of a group in which appeared the Dane Vingegaard, the French David Gaudu and Thibaut Pinot, or again the Belgian Wout Van Aert. He also raised his arms as he crossed the line to salute his British teammate’s victory.
” It’s a team victory and it’s like I won, it’s an even better feeling. All year the guys work for me, and there, whether it’s Adam who has an opportunity and he seizes it with the victory and the yellow jersey, it’s a team dream that comes true “, welcomed Pogačar on arrival.
On the French side, Thibaut Pinot hailed ” an almost perfect day » after his 4th place on this first stage. ” It’s a good start, we are two in the right group “, he judged. With David Gaudu, the leader of his Groupama-FDJ team, he finished the race in the same restricted group as the two favourites. In the general classification, he is currently 22 seconds behind Adam Yates, 8 seconds behind Simon Yates and 4 seconds behind Tadej Pogačar.
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 has already lost all hope for the general classification after being on the ground for long minutes.
(with AFP)