Pello Bilbao ends Spanish wait on scorching Tour de France stage

ISSOIRE, FRANCE: Pello Bilbao won a hot and hilly stage 10 of the Tour de France on Tuesday, becoming the first Spaniard in five years to win a stage on the world’s biggest bike race.

The main contenders for the overall title crossed the line together nearly three minutes after Bilbao. You have to go back to 2018 and Omar Fraile’s win for the last victory by a Spanish rider.

Bilbao dedicated the victory to Gino Maeder, his Bahrain Victorius teammate who died last month after a crash on the Tour of Switzerland.

“I had to do it for Gino,” said Bilbao.

Maeder, a 26-year-old Swiss rider, plunged into a ravine while competing in his home race in June, and succumbed to his injuries a day later.

“He was such a great guy and we are trying to honor his legacy with charity work — this is our project to remember him, and not just by sports,” said Bilbao.

He was delighted with his first Tour stage win.

“It’s an incredible feeling, I have waited years for this,” he said. “It would have been a dream to win at home because we started in Bilbao.

“I was lucky this stage came after a rest day, but the day off meant I was fully hydrated.”

The Spaniard led a chase to track down Latvia’s Krists Neilands, who looked set to make it two stages in a row for Israel-Premier Tech before he was finally caught by a six-man pursuit.

On a baking 167km run from the volcano-themed Vulcania amusement park billed as one of the Tour’s most beautiful stages, the peloton labored over five hills to the village of Issoire in Auvergne.

The pack splintered due to the intense conditions in exposed terrain on the semi-deserted hillsides along the Puy de Dome tectonic fault line.

Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard retained his 17-second lead in the