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Pello Bilbao jumps up the GC after winning first Tour de France stage

A wild stage after the first rest day

July 11, 2023
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There was little chill in Tuesday’s tenth stage of the Tour de France following the first rest day. There was action all day long, with the end result breakaway Pello Bilbao taking his first Tour victory. In doing so Bilbao jumped from 11th to 5th to threaten the podium. He dedicated his triumph to fallen teammate Gino Mader. Jonas Vingegaard kept the yellow jersey. The top Canadian was Michael Woods in 99th.

The Course
Tuesday’s profile resembled a piranha’s jawbone. It was up and down all day with five categorized climbs over 168 km from Vulcania to Issoire. The final climb was Cat. 3 Côte de la Chapelle-Marcousse cresting 28 km from the finish line. It was another hot day at the Tour.

A route that this was sure to elicit a breakaway, but it took a while for a proper one to form, after all sorts of frenetic activity right from the gun. A few moves fizzled. The GC men were involved in the skirmishing–Tadej Pogačar not a believer in transition stages–and a few missed out. The situation after two of the five climbs and 50 km ridden was a breakaway septet, a chase septet 30 seconds behind, the yellow jersey group 45 seconds in arrears, and a group containing Wout Van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, and the highest-positioned Frenchmen, David Gaudu and Romain Bardet, 2:30 back.

Col de la Croix Saint-Robert was the only Cat. 2 climb sandwiched among Cat. 3’s. At 6 km of 6.4 percent, it was likely to change the situation of the four groups. For one thing, the yellow jersey gang and the Gaudu-Bardet bunch reunited at its foot. From this newly-swelled company, 17th-place Guillaume Martin tried to bridge over to the septets out front. Ben O’Connor, fourth in the 2021 edition but down in 18th overnight, sailed over from the closest chase group to make an octet in the lead.

Along with Vingegaard, Ben O’Connor was the revelation of the 2021 Tour. Photo: Sirotti

Warren Barguil accelerated and took the maximum KOM points. On the Croix Saint-Robert’s descent the chase containing Julian Alaphilippe finally linked up to create a squad of 14. The peloton was still +2:30. Esteban Chaves didn’t like the new breakaway arrangement, so he bounced and tipped over Cat. 3 Côte de Saint-Victor-la-Rivière alone.

There was a long gap between the penultimate climb and the final climb. Chaves was brought back and his squad continued to gain on the peloton, where Alpecin-Deceuninck had taken over pace-making duties from Jumbo-Visma. Escapee Bilbao was rising in the GC to become a podium threat; would Jayco-AlUla and Ineos do something about it? Sure enough, Jayco chipped in.

Having been on the back foot earlier, Van Aert and his old cyclocross buddy van der Poel surged ahead on a long downhill.

Côte de la Chapelle-Marcousse

On the final climb the breakaway really began to splinter. Michael Woods’ teammate Krists Neilands dashed away.

Krists Neilands goes solo on the final climb of the day.

Neilands summited 30 seconds ahead of his closest pursuers and started another long descent. Bilbao, Chaves, O’Connor, Georg Zimmermann and Antonio Pedrero pulled back the Latvian with 3.1 km remaining. Alaphilippe led a quartet only 20 second behind. There were no cat and mouse games in Issoire until O’Connor’s acceleration. Just before the red kite, Zimmerman attacked and Bilbao went with him. Again the others returned.

In the sprint, the Bahrain-Victorious man went from far out and didn’t relent his space.

Wednesday is also lumpy, but it should be the last chance for a bunch sprint this week.

2023 Tour de France Stage 10
1) Pello Bilbao (Spain/Bahrain-Victorious) 3:52:34
2) Georg Zimmermann (Germany/Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) s.t.
3) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R-Citroën) s.t.
99) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +13:02

2023 Tour de France GC
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma) 42:32:13
2) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) +0:17
3) Jai Hindley (Australia/Bora-Hansgrohe) +2:40
4) Carlos Rodriguez (Spain/Ineos) +4:22
5) Pello Bilbao (Spain/Bahrain-Victorious) +4:34
27) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +29:48