Stage One top 10
1. Adam Yates (UAE) 4hr 22sec 49sec
2. Simon Yates (JAY) +04 sec
3. Tadej Pogacar (UAE) +12sec
4. Thibaut Pinot (GFC)
5. Michael Woods (IPT)
6. Victor Lafay (COF)
7. Jai Hindley (BOH)
8. Mattias Jensen (LTK)
9. Jonas Vingegaard (TJV)
10. David Gaudu (GFC)
Stage one report: Bilbao to Bilbao
Adam Yates took the stage win and the race leader’s yellow jersey that went with it as he beat his twin brother Simon by four seconds in Bilbao.
Adam Yates speaks ...
“I don’t even know what to say,” he gaspos, struggling for breath. “I attacked on the descent after saetting the climb up for Tadej and my brother came across to work with me. At first I didn’t know if I should work with him so I asked on the radio and they said ‘Go for it!’. I’m speechless.”
On duking the finish out with his twin brother: “I speak to him every day and we’re rally close, so to share this experience is really nice. I wish he would pull a little bit easier because he almost dropped me at one moment. I’m super happy! I want to keep my feet on the ground because we’re here for Tadej and he’s the boss. Over the next few weeks, I’m sure he’s going to show a lot.”
It's a Yates one-two on stage one ...
Adam Yates leads his twin brother Simon home, winning an eventful stage one in 4hr 22min 49sec. He’ll take the yellow jersey. They attacked just after the final climb passing Pogacar and Vingegaard just before the descent began. It’s a big day for the Yates family – Adam takes his first ever stage win and the Maillot Jaune that happens to go with it.
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Adam Yates wins Stage One
800m to go: Simon Yates (Jayco Alula) leads his brother Adam (UAE) but is overtaken. Adam Yates pulls clear on the ramp towards the finish line. His brother Simon follows him home. Tadej Pogacar finishes third. It’s a one-two for the Yates brothers and a one-three for Team UAE.
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2km to go: Adam and Simon Yates are sharing the work as they head towards the final ramp that leads to the finish. There’s no time for any cat-and-mouse tomfoolery.
3km to go: Brothers Adam and Simon Yates have opened a lead of 16 seconds over the Vingegaard group. Julian Alaphilippe is way back and won’t be winning today.
8km to go: Pogacar and Vingegaard go over the top of the Col du Pike with only Cofidis rider Victor Lafay for company and the front of the race looks to have been blown to smithereens for now at least. More and more riders will catch them on the downhill, you’d presume.
10km to go: Tadej Pogacar tries to attack on the climb but Jonas Vingegaard is glued to his wheel. Not literally, of course – he’s not a Just Stop Oil protestor.
11km to go: Back at the front of the race, all the big guns are in good positions as they approach today’s final climb, the Category 3 Cote de Pike. It’s two kilometres in length and 212 metres high with a gradient of 10 per cent. Dylan van Baarl is making the pace.
15km to go: Carapaz is back on his bike but his face is a mask of pain and he’s struggling to even turn his pedals. His left knee looks to have taken a mighty whack and he’s already over five minutes behind the leaders. Enric Mas has abandoned and become the first man to leave this year’s race.
16km to go: I haven’t seen the crash which did for Mas and Carapaz but it looks like the former’s race is definitely over. His Movistar team are making no apparent effort to get their star rider back on his bike. That’s so unlucky for them but such are the perils of bike racing.
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19km to go: Crash!!! Enric Mas (Movistar) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education) are both standing at the side of the road following a crash and neither look in particularly good shape. The main GC contenders for both their teams, their Tour looks over on day one, even if they are able to continue. Carapaz is given a spare bike and pedals away but his knee looks badly damaged; he’s going to lose a lot of time. Enric Mas is still standing at the side of the road and looks dazedc and ashen-faced. He might have a concussion.
27km to go: Neilsen Powless sprints off the front of the bunch, is first over the top and takes five King of the Mountain points.
27km to go: Jumbo Visma take over at the front of the bunch as they continue their climb, with Dylan van Baarle putting in the hard yards. They’ve a kilometre to go to the summit of Cote De Vivero. Julian Alaphilippe and Mathieu van der Poel, who will each fancy their chances of winning today’s stage, have both seen quite a few of their teammates get dropped.
Tour de France Unchained: “If you enjoyed TdF Unchained, the next step is The Least Expected Day, also available on Netflix,” writes Tim Hoult. “Its first season follows the Movistar team through a really eventful 2019 season that saw infighting, a Grand Tour win, outright dissent with team orders and frequent behind the scenes footage on the bus and in team hotels. Great fun, although I was frequently bewildered at exactly why Movistar have so many leaders in any given race!” Thanks for the recommendation and consider it on my list.
30km to go: The peloton is stung out as the riders tackle the steep gradient of the penultimate climb and plenty more riders are being dropped. Some can’t cope with the high speed and others are keeping their energy in reserve for more important battles ahead. Mikkel Bjerg (UAE) is towing the leaders along.
32km to go: Matteo Trentin brings Tadej Pogacar to the front of the bunch, where he is joined by Julian Alaphilipe, who’s spent most of the day so far loitering at the back of the bunch.
35km to go: Next up is the Cat2 Côte de Vivero, which is 4.2 kilometres in length and has an altitude of 361 metres. As they approach the climb, the bunch is travelling at 33.1km per hour.
Tour de France Unchained: “I enjoyed seeing the more candid footage, but I wasn’t keen on the way that narratives and stories had to be forced on to everything, especially when they were less than accurate,” writes Nick Honeywell. “The Mark Cavendish erasure in the very first episode rather rubbed me up the wrong way; I understand a French-made show would’ve liked to feature Alaphilippe, but to suggest that he (a non-sprinter) was challenging Jakobsen (a sprinter) for a place in the team was risible.”
40km to go: The peloton goes over the Col De Morga and are on a descent that looks punchy. When the road levels out, all the big guns will want to be in the first 20 places of the bunch in a bid to keep themselves out of trouble and in contention at the business end of the stage.
41km to go: Mark Cavendish is one of six or seven riders to have been dropped at the beginning of the climb. He won’t be breaking Eddie Merckx’s record for stage wins today but it was never on the cards given that today’s stage was never going to suit the out-and-out sprinters.
44km to go: The road widens and riders from UAE, EF Education-Easypost and Groupama-FDJ can be seen the front with the bunch two kilometres from the top of the Col De Morga.
47km to go: Riding as one, the bunch is on its way up the Cat4 Col De Morga, a mere speed-bump that’s just 307m high. The riders of Jumbo Visma, Movistar and Bora Hangrohe are all at the front of the bunch.
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51km to go: The gap is into 15 seconds and the peloton can see the five breakaway riders ahead of them up the road. Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny), Lilian Calméjane (Intermarché), Simon Guglielmi (Arkea), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) and Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies) we salute you but your moment in the spotlight is over with 50 kilometres to go and three categorised climbs to go in today’s stage.
54km to go: Having passed through it when they contested the intermediate sprint, the breakaway is on its way back though the town of Guernica, where the streets are lined with cheering crowds who seem to be having a great day. They love their cycling in that particular neck of the woods.
55km to go: The five men in the breakaway stretch the elastic again, their lead going back out to 1min 20sec.
An email: “I too enjoyed TDF: Unchained as the background of the race, the thoughts of the riders and how the teams prepare added something in addition to ‘just’ who won what and how,” writes Neil Mackie.
“It did have some Drive to Survive issues in terms of wrong stage footage, and the post-production ‘commentary’ was jarring, but I doubt most viewers will have picked up on that. Oh, and original audio with subtitles is the way to go, with some of my rudimentary French helping out.
“For other cycling news, downhill mountain biking phenom Jackson Goldstone has just won his first elite level world cup race in Val di Sole, Italy (his main competition from the Junior ranks, Jordan Williams, happened to win the first elite race of the season). The link to the TDF is that top level cyclists are getting younger and younger, like Alpecin’s Puck Pieterse winning in women’s elite cross country.”
64km to go: To be clear, he didn’t actually pedal backwards down the course in reverse, he turned around first and went the wrong way down the course.
64km to go: Alexy Lutsenko (Astana) stops to get a new wheel and his teammate Yevgeniy Fedorov stops, turns and cycles about 10 yards back down the road to wait for him and help pace him back to the bunch.
Going backwards down the course is an illegal move, and in this instance one that’s been captured by the TV cameras, as Eurosport’s Australian co-commentator Robbie McEwan points out. Yevgeniy may get a ticking-off from the race commisioners but is unlikely to face any other sanction. The gap is at 27 seconds.
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Tour de France Unchained: “I watched the first five episodes and even got my daughter interested in the programme,” writes Patrick Foyle. “It had to be well done for her to be engaged in cycling. Pidcock’s descending was outrageous!”
“My favourite moment was the look of utter disbelief from Charly Wegelius in the EF Education team car watching Tom Pidcock’s descent from the Galibier,” writes Peter Craig.
69km to go: The gap is coming down again as the big GC hitters jockey for position at the front of the bunch with the race entering some difficult technical sections with more narrow roads to negotiate ahead of a descent.
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An email: “They breakaway is dead in the water because the peloton has not let them get away,” writes Jeremy Boyce. “There’s been no ‘Give them six minutes now, we’ll have them later’. As I said earlier, the Jumbos and UAEs will be wanting to manage this 21 day race from start to finish. And possibly get their markers down early, as you suggested.”
73km to go: Jonas Gingaard (Uno-X) and Simon Guglielmi (Arkea) had attacked the breakaway but are about to be rejoined by their three fellow escapees. The gap is back out to 30 seconds and there are three categorised climbs remaining in the stage.
75km to go: The breakaway looks unsurpisingly dead in the water, albeit a little earlier than expected. The gap is down to 18 seconds.
77km to go: It’s been a quiet day today so far, with most of the teams keeping their powder dry ahead of what now look like inevitable fireworks at the busimness end of this stage. Should Tadej Pogacar or Jonas Vingegaard win today, there’s a small chance they could become the first rider, since the Belgian Romain Maes 1935, to wear the yellow jersey from pillar to post on the Tour.
81km to go: Uno-X rider Torstein Træen has had a crash, changed his bike, been checked by the doctor and is back on his way again, pedalling along a few hundred yards behind the peloton with a sizeable rip visible on the back of his jersey. He had to wait a while for the team car to bring him a spare bike, possibly because his teammate Jonas Gregaard is in the breakaway.
An email: “I am happy every year to contribute $25 USD to the Guardian in support of their Tour de France coverage,” writes Martin Yeager from Houston (near the Galveston Bay). “I enjoy the 21 days of both the silly and the serious live feed comments. It is pretty on TV but I enjoy the Guardian’s and its readers’ coverage.”
86km to go: Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny), Lilian Calméjane (Intermarché), Simon Guglielmi (Arkea), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) and Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies) continue to lead but are just over a minute clear of a bunch that is keeping them on a very, very tight leash. Since escaping, they’ve only got their lead over two minutes on one occasion and even then only for a few seconds.
Intermediate sprint result
1. Pascal Eenkhorn (20 pts)
2. Simon Guglielmi (17)
3. Valentin Ferron (15)
4. Lilian Calmejane (13)
5. Jonas Gregaard (11)
At 1’10’’:
6. Mads Pedersen (10)
7. Peter Sagan (9)
8. Jasper Philipsen (8)
9. Mark Cavendish (7)
10. Bryan Coquard (6)
11. Dylan Groenewegen (5)
12. Jordi Meeus (4)
13. Biniam Girmay (3)
14. Jasper Stuyven 92)
15. Alexis Renard (1)
Christian Prudhomme: A word on today’s stage from the Tour de France director. "The Basque Country doesn’t lack options when it comes to offering opportunities to the puncheurs,” he says. “With 3,300 metres of vertical gain and a double springboard where gaps can be created in the final 30 kilometres in the shape of the Vivero and Pike climbs, discussion about the identity of the first Yellow Jersey holder will focus on attackers with real pedigree, those capable of taking allying their instinct to their power.”
Intermediate sprint: Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny) wins the intermediate sprint in Guernica and takes 20 points.
Tour de France Unchained: In preparation for this year’s Tour, I watched the eight-part behind the scenes documentary about last year’s Tour de France that is currently available on Netflix. I found it thoroughly enjoyable; a bit like Drive To Survive but with far fewer thoroughly unpleasant people. Anyone else seen it? Meanwhile back at this year’s race, the gap is at 1min 28sec with exactly 100 kilometres of stage one remaining.
More top bays: “Can I add Barafundle Bay in Pembrokeshire to the list of great bays?” asks Alan Pedigrew. “It’s stunningly beautiful plus it’s a great word to say!”
“You’ve got to include Wineglass Bay in Tasmania,” writes Richard Kitson. “Beautiful location but the name is a winner on its own!”
An email: “I’m guessing you haven’t been to Sandwood Bay in North West Scotland?” asks Peter Craig. “If Alpecin and Jumbo Visma are controlling the break, my money would be on Van Der Poel or Van Aert rather than Alaphilippe.”
An email: Jeremy Boyce writes in response to Kurt Perleberg’s decidedly tongue-in-cheekl query about the lack of American Tour de France winners since Greg Lemond in 1990.
“Of course another American did ‘win’ the Tour, on numerous occasions, except he was doing and dealing dope and was rightly stripped of his titles,” he writes. “Why don’t they win more often? Maybe road biking just isn’t interesting enough for them. They have plenty of their own sports to watch where a match takes half a day day, but with a Grand Tour it takes 21 days to get a result and we all know how they love to have a result at the end of each match, hence their obsession with shoot-outs.
“The Tour has a daily winner, no shoot out needed, but it builds the overall suspense over 3 weeks, more like watching a whole season of Dallas than an episode of The X Files.”
A good email, Jeremy, although I’m not sure Floyd Landis will appreciate being further erased from the history books he has been erased from once already.
113km to go: With faces set in “grimace mode” the five riders in the breakaway make their way up a stiff Category Three climb, the second of the day, with two King of the Mountains points on offer at the top. Gregaard attacks but is reined in after going too early. Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny) is first over the top and is now in the virtual polka-dot jersey by dint of his second place finish on the first climb.
An email: “I’d be quite surprised if, as a professional cyclist, you’d be thrilled
about winning an over-30’s, or heaven forbid, over-35’s competition,” writes David Hindle. “Strangely though, in the amateur, open road race world, at least here in Germany, it’s all done by age group. When you reach Masters III, or worse still IV, it’s a mixed bag. The constant reminder of how old and past it you are, mixed with the secret desire to be able to claim bragging rights for being the fastest 55-year-old in the race.”
121km to go: The riders continue to barrel along at an avergae speed of 40.2km per hour and the gap is 1min 34sec. AG2R Citreon rider Benoit Cosnefroy has dropped out of the bunch on a descent with a mechanical and has received a replacement bike.
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An email: “No American has won the Tour De France since Greg Lemond in 1990,” writes Kurt Perleberg. “Why has it been so long?”
129km: The gap is 1min 42sec and there’s not a great deal of note going on out on the road. This is a very difficult stage to call but I’ve put my £2 pocket money on Soudal Quick-Step rider Julian Alaphilipe.
An email: “Bay Of Biscay surely a good call on your top five bays,” writes Julian Cravem. “Which other bays make the Top 5 and do the Bay City Rollers provide the soundtrack?”
Well, Galway Bay would definitely be up there, as would it’s fellow Irish bay in Bantry. I think I’d have Apollo Bay in Australia up there too, along with Woolacombe Bay in Devon. To be clear, these are all bays I have visited.
An email: “As many people have suggested, it’s time to phase out the white jersey as the best riders are so young these days,” writes Peter Craig. “Maybe replace with a best debutant or a best old rider jersey for those over 30?”
Thoughts?
135km to go: |Our five-man breakaway are on a downhill and the gap is 1min 34sec. Your escape party: Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny), Lilian Calméjane (Intermarché), Simon Guglielmi (Arkea), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) and Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies). It’s been a very fast start to this year’s Tour – the breakaway covered 42.2km in the opening hour of racing.
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145km to go: Heading north towards the Bay of Biscay, which is definitely up there in my top five bays, the race continues at a fair old clip. Jumbo-Visma continue to dictate the pace at the front of the bunch, aided and abetted by a couple of riders from Alpecin-Deceuninck. The gap is 1min 33sec. Lilian Calméjane (Intermarche–Circus–Wanty) is the only rider in the breakaway with previous Tour de France experience. As I am sure you all remember, the Frenchman won stage eight in 2017.
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151km to go: Our five-man breakaway is being kept on a tight rein by a peloton being led by the riders of Jumbo-Visma. The gap is 1min 15sec.
An email: Niels Pedersen has been in touch to boost Tom Pidcock’s chances of winning the White Jersey for best young rider by eliminating Jonas Vingegaard from the competition.
“Vingegaard is too old to compete for the white jersey, so better chance for Pidcock,” he writes. The White Jersey goes to the best young rider aged 25 or under throughout the year the race is staged. Jonas Vingegaard turned 26 in December. The comparatively sprightly Tadej Pogacer is still only 24.
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168km to go: Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) takes the first two points available in the the King of the Mountains classification, pulling clear of his fellow riders in the breakaway. He clearly hopes to be zipped into the polka-dot jersey at the end of the stage. The gap is 2min 23sec.
171km to go: Things have yet to settle down in the peloton where, somewhat irritatingly, at least half the teams are wearing different colours from last year. Movistar, for example, are now riding in white. White!
Jonas Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma team are leading the bunch, while there are a few Ineos Grenadiers up there too. Egan Bernal is in the team as he continues his comeback from the horror crash that almost cost him his life in 2022, and nobody is quite sure what to expect from the Colombian. Geraint Thomas is sitting this Tour out following his second place finish in the Giro.
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An email: “One must not overlook the white jersey competition for the best young rider,” writes William Preston. “It’ll end up on the shoulders of either Vingegaard or Pogacar, but Tom Piddock has to be in with a shout at some point before he gets too old for it. He’s got style, panache, and his descending skills are thrilling heroics at speed. He’s got a bright future across the disciplines. Also, I’m really pleased at the lack of time trials as they are massively dull.”
I couldn’t agree more on the time trial sentiment and it was interesting to hear Pidcock say before today’s stage that he hopes to secure a couple of stage wins and “maybe something on GC” if he isn’t too far behind after a couple of weeks.
176km to go: The five-man breakaway, including three French riders but curiously no local Basques, have opened a gap of 1min 10sec on the peloton.
179km to go: A group of five riders have been allowed to open a gap of 26 seconds on the bunch: Pascal Eenkhorn (Lotto-Dstny), Lilian Calméjane (Intermarché), Simon Guglielmi (Arkea), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) and Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies).
Lotto-Dstny have lost their sporting director Allan Davis after it emerged he sent an unsolicited topless picture of himself to somebody on Twitter and then threatened them with legal action when they made it public.
“In order to keep the peace, it has been decided, by mutual agreement, to keep the sports director out of the Tour de France,” said Lotto-Dstny in a statement. “The team will not make additional comments on this case and asks to respect the privacy of those involved.”
They're racing in Stage One!
181km to go: Our old friend the race director Christian Prudhomme emerges from the sun-roof of his Skoda, waves his yellow flag and signals the start of the race in earnest. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) is the first to make a break for it.
Chris Froome: The four times winner is one of several conspicous absentees from this year’s race, having failed to make the Israel-Premier Tech team due to a paucity of good performances.
"The wait is over" 🤩@antmccrossan - the voice of @LeTour - takes you through the many hills and tricks of stage 1 around Bilbao#TDF2023 #TDFdata pic.twitter.com/dUtMfPtI7o
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 1, 2023
An email: “Here we go,” writes Paul Griffin. “Christmas Day for people who can calculate their power to weight ratio. So obviously it’s Pogacar’s race right? He’s greatest talent of his generation, racing with panache, a streak of cold sadism, and with stronger team than last year.”
You can sense a “but” coming, can’t you? Back to you, Paul.
“But here is a mad mad mad stat: the last rider to race and lose a Grand Tour, then regain it, was nearly 40 years ago. Bernard Hinault in the 1985 tour. So maybe it’s Vingegaard and his Jumbo Visma storm troopers again. For waht it’s worth, I’m having a small wager on Tom Pidcock, given the paucity of time trials on the parcours. But something bad needs to happen to the big two for my boat to come in.”
The riders have another three kilometrres to go before racing begins. If I was unlucky enough to be among them, I would already be a wheezing, tailed-off wreck giving serio0us consideration to abandoning the race.
👋 The defending champion wishes you all a wonderful #TDF2023!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 1, 2023
👋 Le tenant du titre vous souhaite un excellent #TDF2023 ! pic.twitter.com/QiAynempsp
The riders are still in the neutral zone: The 176-strong field is still making its way through the streets of Bilbao at a leisurely processional pace ahead of being given the all-clear to start racing. It’s unlikely to be a slow start as today’s stage seems wide open and there is a classified climb inside the first 15 kilometres.
Stage one of the 110th Tour de France is underway ...
The riders are off, with just the 3,406 kilometres ahead of them! They roll over the start line but won’t be given the signal to start racing until they’ve covered 11.5 kilometres. It’s predicted to be a two-horse race between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar but nobody is quite sure what kind of shape the two-time Slovenian winner is after recovering from a broken wrist he suffered in a crash during Liege-Bastogne-Liege in late April.
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An email: “I think one of the best things about a yearly three week stage race is that when it ends, there’s 49 weeks until it begins again,” writes David Alderton. “This year’s route looks to be an absolute corker, and there’s excitement a plenty on offer every day. I’m really willing Cavendish to get one more win, his career has just been phenomenal.
“Speaking of riders who are retiring, Pinot’s swansong will be filled with emotion, I think he’ll nab one stage win as a last hurrah. He’s had some poor luck and the results he has had don’t reflect his ability.
“Overall, though, I think it’s going to be Vingegaard in yellow at the end of the race by about a minute. Regarding the polka dots it’s a tough one, but Pogacar will grab it. Sagan getting another green jersey would be a giggle and a way to sweep out the old and bring in the new.”
A question: “Who are the Americans riding in this years Tour De France and is there a chance an American wins this year’s Tour De France?” asks Kurt Perleberg, via email.
An answer: Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich) and Lawson Carddock (Jayo Alula).
It’s difficult to imagine any of them have a hope of winning the Tour, although Sepp Cuss is almost certainly the best equipped to do so. He finished 18th last year and was 14th in this year’s Giro. However, he’ll be working in the sevice of Jonas Vingegaard, but if the reigning champion was to be forced out of the race through injury or illness, who knows what could happen. Neilson Powless, the first US Native American to ride in the race, finished a highly respectable 12th last year.
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Increased calls for new safety measures
Jonathan Vaughters, manager of the EF Education Easy Post team, is the latest high-profile figure within cycling to advocate the use of safety netting on mountain descents.
The call for increased safety precautions comes less than a fortnight after Gino Mäder, of the Bahrain Victorious team, died after going over the edge during a high-speed mountain descent in June’s Tour of Switzerland.
Security tightened amid unrest concerns
The Tour de France has ramped up security as race organisers brace themselves for a double dose of disruption, both from climate change activists and the threat of civil unrest in France. Jeremy Whittle reports.
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Vingegaard the man to beat in 2023
Jonas Vingegaard goes into this year’s Tour with a new authority and a lot more confidence than in 2022, and should benefit from the race’s many climbing stages. However, safety concerns linger after the Swiss cyclist’s Gino Mäder’s tragic death following a crash on a descent in the recent Tour of Switzerland. His Bahrain Victorious team-mates have withdrawn the race number 61 – their team’s leadership number – from this year’s Grand Boucle. Jeremy Whittle sets the scene from Bilbao.
Stage one: Bilbao to Bilbao (182km)
The Tour starts in Spain’s foremost cycling heartland, with a stage through the Basque Country hills which will give many the jitters, writes William Fotheringham. Four stiff ascents in the final 80km with the Côte de Pike less than 10km from the line means an initial sort-out of the field; at least one favourite could lose the race here. The finish is made for Julian Alaphilippe, so France will expect a win and yellow jersey. The riders roll out at 11.30am (BST).
Tour de France 2023
Starting with a three-day stint in the Basque country, this year’s Tour de France will feature 176 riders representing 22 different teams as they pedal their way along 3,406 kilometres of road. Plenty of them won’t make it to the finish line on the cobbles of the Champs Elysees in Paris in three weeks time but today, the contestants will set off on a 182km opening stage that begins and ends in Bilbao, the feeling in the bunch will be one of giddy excitement tinged with trepidation at the some of the almost superhuman challenges that lie ahead.
With Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard aiming to retain the title he won at his second attempt last year, Mark Cavendish attempting to break Eddie Merckx’s record for career stage wins, plenty of riders keen to nab the stage wins that are so important to their own and their team’s profiles and no shortage of other sub-plots, we’ll bring you all the action that’s fit to write up and plenty more that isn’t as the riders head off on today’s Grand Depart of the 110th Tour de France.
