"The 182km opening stage up and down the steep climbs in and around Bilbao is the hardest opening stage the Tour de France peloton has ever faced.
The rollercoaster stage hits five officially rated climbs, but there’s barely a flat road on tap. The stage opens with a climb in the opening 15km, and after packing in three more climbs, the course hits the decisive Côte de Pike and summits with about 10km to go. The climb is about 2000m long and averages with peloton-splitting 10-percent grades.
The road plunges to Bilbao, only to hit the flamme rouge and a 5 percent gradient to the line."
3300 meters climbing on the day. Looks like one for puncheurs or even climbers.
Market closes same time as neutralized start.
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@JakeEatonc5e2 I wasn't expecting UAE to let him go ahead of Tadej. It might be hard for Jonas to battle against Tadej and Yates, just like it was last year for Tadej against Jonas and Roglic
@egroj I agree. UAE also declared him co-leader with Tadej, which Phil described as a "red herring" and probably right but a good strategy.
@JakeEatonc5e2 in the interview pre race today Yates said that he was there to work for Pogacar and in the post race interview he said that he was waiting for the team to call him back when he went ahead with his brother, but that they have him the go
Okay, so.
The way the motivations work on this stage might be a little surprising.
I know it is not a direct comparison because the stages are /different/, but rewind back to 2021 TDF Stage 2 for an interesting example of something that Absolutely Can Happen on Stage 1 this year.
Let's review the end of the stage. On the final ascent of Mur de Bretagne, Colbrelli attacked and MVDP was first to hit his wheel. Pogacar responded instantly and Roglic was glued to Pogacar's wheel. Instead of closing instantly, Pogacar looks behind:
About 10 seconds later, we see MVDP begin his attack and Pogacar is AGAIN looking behind at the time it happens. He's laser focused on Roglic or other GC competitors and doesn't seem to care about MVDP/Colbrelli in front:
As MVDP motors away to the stage win (and yellow jersey), Pogacar just continues at his 'safe' pace, not willing to risk a megadrop:
Being Stage 2 it is not exactly the same as Stage 1, but the extreme motivation/focus for the yellow jersey was the SAME for all the involved competitors and the idea that the GC favorites could stalemate/play it safe seems totally reasonable to me.
This same principle applies for both the Cote de Pike 10km out from the finish, and the actual climb to the finish line. Overall, I'm inclined to think Pogacar might play it safe in this situation rather than take a huge risk in the very first stage.
Hey, maybe Loulou is back.