Tour de France: Pello Bilbao dedicates victory to Gino Mader after winning stage 10

Pello Bilbao celebrates winning stage 10 of the Tour de France

Spanish rider Pello Bilbao dedicated his victory to his late Bahrain-Victorious team-mate Gino Mader after winning stage 10 of the Tour de France.

Mader died aged 26 in a crash at last month’s Tour de Suisse.

“It was the only reason [for the win],” an emotional Bilbao said at the finish. “It was a special one, for Gino.”

Jonas Vingegaard kept the overall lead but Bilbao moved up to fifth place, above the British trio of the Yates twins, Adam and Simon, and Tom Pidcock.

Bilbao’s sprint for the line came at the end of a thrilling day of racing over a hilly 167km route that had started at the Vulcania theme park.

Vingegaard and his closest rival, two-time winner Tadej Pogacar, were involved in an early break as the race resumed at a frantic pace following Monday’s rest day.

The stage only took shape when 14 riders went clear to form an escape group with 80km to go, with Bilbao among them.

Latvian rider Krists Neilands attacked his breakaway companions over the top of the final climb and opened up a 35-second gap, but he was caught with 3km to go, before Bilboa beat him and four other riders in the race for the line.

Bilbao’s win was his first at any of the Grand Tours at the age of 33, and he paid tribute to Mader afterwards.

“It was hard to prepare the last two weeks with him in my mind, but my family helped me a lot to just keep calm and positive and put all my positive energy into doing something nice in the Tour,” Bilbao said.

“I wanted to do it in the first few stages [in his native Basque country] as it was so special for me but it was not possible, so I just waited for my moment.

“I was maybe thinking my position in the overall was going to be a problem but I decided to a make an all-in move and in the end it was the right movement.

“My first victory in the Tour after 13 years as a professional is such a special moment for me.”

Wednesday’s stage 11 takes the Tour 179.8km from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins and features three more categorised climbs, but is expected to end in a bunch sprint at the finish.