The Spanish Pello Bilbao won the tenth stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday, in which the Colombian Esteban Chaves was also the protagonist with fifth place in the segment, while Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo continues as leader of the general classification.
Bilbao prevailed in sweltering heat, having been the strongest in the sprint among a small group of breakaways at Issoire. The Basque rider gave Spain its first stage victory in five years on the Tour.
For his part, Chaves crossed the finish line as part of the group of runners who remained in the lead during the race and who in the last kilometer put up a battle to win. For the South American it is the best result in the French contest.
Bilbao raised its arms above its head to celebrate the end of one of the most difficult stages so far on the Tour. His time of 3h52.34 earned him a lead ahead of Georg Zimmermann and Ben O’Connor in the sweltering heat of central France.
The Team Bahrain-Victorious cyclist immediately dedicated the win to his former teammate and friend Gino Mader, who died last month after injuries sustained in a crash at the Tour de Suisse.
“I closed the gap on O’Connor first and then, in cold blood, I let Zimmerman sprint, and then I went all out for the last 200 meters without thinking about anything else,” Bilbao admitted. “And then I crossed the line with all the energy I had left and remembering why I won.”
The Colombians Esteban Chaves and Harold Tejada were among the animators of this tenth day that had a great descent a few kilometers from the finish line after having covered 167 long kilometers.
Chaves, who is part of the EF procycling team, has already won stages in the Tour of Spain and the Giro d’Italia. In 2016 he was second in the Giro d’Italia and third in the Vuelta a España.
The French round will experience its eleventh stage this Wednesday, July 12, another leg-breaking day of 179.8 kilometers between Clermont-Ferrand and Moulins, which includes five mountain prizes.