Tour de France 2023: Adam Yates edges twin brother Simon Yates in Stage 1 thriller, Tadej Pogacar just behind

Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) edged twin brother Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) on Stage 1 as the 2023 Tour de France began with a bang.

The British duo pulled clear after the final climb, with pre-race favourites Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) content to sit back after earlier lighting up the stage.

Adam got the better of Simon on the pull to the line, while Pogacar drew first blood in his GC battle with Vingegaard after winning the sprint for third and four bonus seconds.

A relatively event-free opening stage took place on a Basque Classic-style course, across almost four and a half hours of racing. The parcours held potential that it kept largely contained as a fast pace was maintained by the vigilant bunch, while the breakaway was never allowed more than the shortest of leads.

The quintet of riders who made the escape did so with surprisingly little effort, considering what was at stake. The first attack, which came the moment race director Christian Prudhomme dropped his flag, came from Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny), and it was the one that stuck. Soon after he was joined by Simon Guglielmi (Arkea-Samsic), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) and Valentin Ferron (Total Energies), before Lilian Calmejane (Intermarche Circus Wanty) made a successful late dash to join them. The peloton, deferring to the incumbency of Jumbo-Visma, fanned across the road and that was as close to being that as we came.

Because although the breakaway's lead was allowed to grow quickly, a lid was placed on it just as soon. Only briefly did it tip over two minutes, staying well under for the duration of its limited lifespan.

On the lumpy course, made up of nothing but ups and downs along the Biscay coast, the first categorised climb came early. Calmejane was first from the break to try his luck at scoring mountains points on the third category Cote de Laukiz, but it was Gregaard who made the more effective move. He picked up the two on offer at the summit, to take an early advantage in the competition.

50km further along came the Cote de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, which saw Eenkhoorn secure the pair of points he needed to go (virtually) clear from Gregaard.

That, like the breakaway's lead on the road, wouldn't last much longer, as the peloton gradually increased the pressure, with a view to completing the day's task long before they were back in Bilbao.

The intermediate sprint gave the first glimpse of the sprinters, and it was Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) who claimed the highest score from the remaining points, after the breakaway had taken the top five positions. On the Dane's wheel was a certain Peter Sagan (Total Energies) who is riding his final Tour de France.

Its lead coming down precipitously, the breakaway finally gave up the ghost with 50km to go, with the serious, stage-setting climbs still to come. On the narrow corridor category 2, Cote de Vivero, Jumbo-Visma and UAE Emirates made every effort to extinguish any hopes other teams might have of going over the top. Still Neilsen Powless (EF Education First) managed to sneak through and snatch the five mountains points on offer, to all but guarantee he would be awarded the polka dot jersey at day's end.

On the greasy, fast descents that followed, Powless' team-mate Richard Carapaz was caught up in the first serious crash of this year's Tour de France. Although he was eventually able to get back on his bike, his GC campaign was rendered over almost before it had began. Worse off was Movistar's Enric Mas, who was forced to abandon, leaving his team's Tour hopes in tatters.

As expected it was the final climb of the day that delivered fireworks and set up the stage victory. The super steep slope of the short Cote de Pike was perfectly suited to a Yates, and it was Adam, team-mate of Pogacar, who took it on and used its final few hundred metres to lay waste to the peloton. Only three riders could match his patch: Pogacar, Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) and Victor Lafay (Cofidis).

Pogacar and Vingegaard went over first before Adam Yates and brother Simon launched over the top. They soon began working together while the peloton regathered, and obliged Jumbo-Visma to put in the work to bring the pair back - should they so wish.

The road going largely downhill, or flat, a handful of seconds was all they would need. It soon became clear that, with just a few kilometres to go before the Bilbao finish, it was going to come down to the stronger of the twins.

Adam Yates sealed the deal with less than a kilometre remaining, as Simon cramped up and fell away from his wheel. UAE Emirates took the yellow jersey with the less fancied of their riders, who maintained that talk of "co-leadership" was overblown.

"I’m not really the leader," he said at the finish, "I’m more in support. When I can do things like this it puts other teams under pressure and it works out like this, it’s perfect... Over the next few weeks I’m 100% for Tadej. I’m sure we’ll do a good job."

Pogacar won the sprint behind the Yates twins to take third and four bonus seconds, easing fears about his form and fitness after fracturing his wrist in the build-up to the race.

Adam Yates is now the early frontrunner in the general classification, holding an eight-second advantage over his brother. Pogacar's time bonus means he is third overall, four seconds clear of defending champion Vingegaard.

Carapaz, bleeding from both knees, was able to complete the stage, coming in 15 minutes behind the leaders and well inside the timecut.

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