Pello Bilbao dedicates Tour de France Stage 10 win to late teammate Mader

Pello Bilbao claimed an emotional victory in the 10th stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday, less than a month after his Bahrain-Victorious teammate Gino Mader died following a crash in Switzerland.

UAE Team Emirates rider Tadej Pogacar remains 17 seconds behind defending champion and general classification leader Jonas Vingegaard.

Bilbao outsprinted breakaway companions Georg Zimmermann of Germany and Australian Ben O'Connor, who were second and third respectively, to move up to fifth overall from 11th, giving Spain their first stage win on the Tour since Omar Fraile in 2018.

The 33-year-old Basque rider, who will retire at the end of the season, is donating one euro ($1.10) to an association helping replant in local deforested areas for every rider finishing a Tour stage behind him – following an initiative by Mader before he died after crashing in a descent at the Tour de Suisse on June 16.

"It's an incredible feeling. The longer you wait for such a moment the sweeter it is when it happens," said Bilbao.

"I had to win for Gino. I wanted to wait for the biggest moment to win for him. When I crossed the line it was an incredible explosion of feelings.

"It's such a special Tour for me with the race having starting from home [in Bilbao]," the Guernica-born rider said.

"Usually I'm quite cold-blooded but today I was very distracted, there was so much at stake."