UAE Team Emirates rider Adam Yates wins opening stage of Tour de France

Briton holds off challenge of twin brother while two-time champion Pogacar finishes third in Bilbao

British rider Adam Yates, of team UAE Team Emirates, celebrates after winning Stage 1 of the Tour de France on July 1, 2023. EPA

UAE Team Emirates rider Adam Yates held off the challenge of his twin brother, Simon, to win the opening stage of the 2023 Tour de France on Saturday.

Adam, 30, pulled away from Jayco AlUla rider Simon in the final stages of the uphill finish to win his first ever Tour stage. Adam's teammate and Two-time winner Tadej Pogacar claimed third in a mini-group sprint.

The brothers went clear at the top of the Cote de Pike towards the end of the lumpy opening 182km stage and opened up a gap on the descent back into town.

Having opened up a gap of 20 seconds on a chasing group, the brothers knew the fight was between themselves on the uphill sprint to the finish line and it was Adam who had the power to ride away at the very end to take yellow for the second time in his career.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what to say,” Adam Yates said. “We tried to set the climb up for Tadej, he attacked but then it was a headwind on the descent. My brother came across to me and we started to work together.

“At first I didn’t know if I should work with him, I asked on the radio and they said, ‘Go for it’. I’m speechless. I knew he was going good, I speak to him every day. My brother and I are close and to share this experience with him is really nice.

“I wish he would pull a bit easier because he almost dropped me at one moment but I’m just super happy.

“I had yellow a few years ago, the Covid year in 2020 which was also a special moment but really I just want to keep my feet on the ground.

"We’re here for Tadej, he’s the boss, he’s shown before he’s the best in the world and over the next few weeks I’m sure he’s going to show that again.

'I'm sure people doubted having two guys as leaders. I might be a leader,but more in support. When I can do things like this when the team's under pressure and it works out like this, it's perfect. Over the next few weeks I'm 100 per cent for Tadej.'

Overall, Yates leads his brother by eight seconds after picking up 10 seconds for the stage win, while Pogacar is 18 seconds off the pace.

Pogacar took a four-second bonus for his third place to take a slight advantage over defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, who was the only main contender to follow the Slovenian when he attacked on the Cote de Pike, 10 km from the finish.

Earlier, Spain's Enric Mas became the first of the 176 riders to abandon the race, quitting after crashing heavily on a descent some 22 kilometres from the line.

The Movistar leader, a three-time Vuelta a Espana runner-up who finished fifth overall on the Tour in 2020, fell off his bike alongside Ecuador's Richard Carapaz, one of the other podium contenders.

Carapaz of the EF Education team climbed back on his bike after being attended to by race doctors and was hovering more than 10 minutes behind the leading bunch, eventually rolling over the line a hefty 15:24 off the pace.