Adam Yates is the first yellow jersey of the 2023 Tour de France after beating his twin Simon to win Stage 1. The 110th Tour de France launched in the Basque Region of Spain on Saturday with a hilly 182-km route that started and finished in Bilbao. It was the second consecutive foreign Grand Départ. Several riders’ GC hopes were dashed by the parcours, and three-time Vuelta a Espana runner-up Enric Mas crashed out of the race. Michael Woods was fifth place.
The Course
Day One wasn’t messing around. Thirteen of the 2023 Tour’s 21 stages held less than Saturday’s 3221 vertical meters. There were three Cat. 3 climbs, a Cat. 4 and a Cat. 2 on tap. The last categorized ascent was the Côte de Pike, 2 km of 9.4 percent, cresting 10 km from the finish line. The final kilometre was 5.4 percent.
It’s one of the hardest opening stages in the history of #TDF2023, 182 kilometers around Bilbao featuring five classified climbs.
The last of these comes in the last 15 kilometers and boasts some ultra-steep double-digit gradients that promise a lot of action. pic.twitter.com/uCRTQkdPA0
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) July 1, 2023
With those early climbs, the attacks and breakaway bids were sure to fly after the green light. A quintet of riders approached the first climb of the 110th edition, Cat. 3 Côte de Laukiz, where Jonas Gregaard of Uno-X took maximum KOM points. On the Côte de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, Pascal Eenkhoorn, recent mountains classification winner at the Tour de Suisse, stymied Gregaard and was the polka dot man on the road.
There was a big gap between Climb 2 and 3. Wout Van Aert emphasized his lack of interest in the green jersey by taking zero points at the intermediate sprint at Gernika-Lumo. Out of the peloton chaps Mads Pedersen grabbed the most points.
The final three climbs came in quick succession. The break was caught before Climb 3, Cat. 4 Col de Morga. At full gallop the field took on 3.8 km of 4.9 percent, and the Basque fans ate it up.
Cat. 2 Côte de Vivero was the highest category climb of the day. The peloton carried on with its wild pace as it negotiated 4.3 km of 7 percent. Pogačar’s teammate Mikkel Bjerg led the way before Jumbo-Visma put their hands on the wheel. Sprinters were left scattered all over the road. Pello Bilbao and Alexey Luksenko were the first final GC top-10 contenders whose drop off…
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