Sibling rivalry rules as Adam Yates wins Tour de France opener ahead of twin brother

Adam Yates of Team UAE won the opening stage of the Tour de France in Bilbao on Saturday, outsprinting his twin brother Simon Yates of Jayco.

The British twins had broken free at the top of the final climb and it soon became clear there was little will from those behind to chase over the final couple of kilometres.

Two-time Tour winner Tadej Pogacar, also of UAE came, in third, 12 seconds adrift at the end of 182km circuit starting and ending in the Basque city.

Pogacar raised his arms in triumph crossing the line, after seeing his newly recruited teammate take the win.

?? @AdamYates7 first #TDF2023  stage win here in Bilbao!?? Première victoire sur le #TDF2023 pour @AdamYates7, ici à Bilbao !??#TDF2023  @letour_euskadi pic.twitter.com/b9zO7QdAqT

"It was as if I had won the stage myself or in fact even better. It's a dream to see the team developing like this," said Pogacar, the 2021 and 2022 champion.

Yates took both the first yellow jersey for the overall lead, and the first green jersey for sprint points.

It was not the first 1-2 for cycling brothers as Andy Schleck beat his brother Frank on stage 18 of the 2011 Tour de France.

"Our parents are here too," Adam said after the stage. "I haven't seen them yet, they're somewhere along the coast in a campervan."

The younger by a few minutes, Adam led an elite clique up the Sondika hill through a narrow passage formed by enthusiastic flag-waving fans before allowing Simon to do the work most of the way to the line.

"He understood. I'm sure he'll get his chance to be a pain in the ass along the road somewhere," said the winner. "He asked me this morning what our plans were but I couldn't tell him."

Simon Yates, long considered the better of the identical twins, is second in the overall