Ineos-Grenadiers will undoubtedly come away from stage 1 of the Tour de France feeling downbeat. A best-place finish of 13th came courtesy of 22-year-old Carlos Rodríguez, while Tom Pidcock and Egan Bernal both finished at 33 seconds down after being distanced on the final climb.
The 182km stage, which started and finished in Bilbao, was described as the toughest Tour opener in a decade, featuring five categorised climbs, three of which came in the final 50km. It was a stage that many had picked Tom Pidcock as a favourite to win, but the Briton and his Ineos Grenadiers team will be looking for silver linings on an otherwise quiet day.
"The feeling was good overall," Rodríguez told Cyclingnews at the finish, upbeat at a strong result on his Tour de France debut. "It was a hard stage, it didn't stop all day. From my side, I'm happy to be in front. It was a pity that I was the only one; bad luck for Tom, for Egan and Dani [Martínez], but I have to be happy with my performance, being in the chasing group."
The stage proved to be an attritional one for the GC contenders. After expecting an early head-to-head between the two GC favourites Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), it was Pogacar's teammate Adam Yates who won the stage, having broken away on the final climb with his twin brother Simon (Jayco-AlUla). On the final ramp to the finish line, Yates distanced his brother by four seconds, with the 12-man chase group finishing a further eight seconds behind.
"I think I was on a good level, maybe not the very best, but I have to be happy," the 22-year-old Spaniard continued, avoiding ruling out his own GC ambitions. "I have to try to get as good a result as possible, to perform as good as I can, to try and do my best."
Elsewhere, Egan Bernal's return to form will also give the Ineos Grenadiers hope. After his career-threatening collision with a bus in early 2022, the Colombian was a surprise addition to the Ineos Grenadiers team when it was announced last week.
Bernal was met with a huge reception by the Basque crowd in Bilbao on the morning of the stage, and despite admitting in a pre-race press conference that his "plan before the Dauphiné was to be on holiday now," he comes into the race with a free role "motivated to give everything."
Of course, after just one stage, there will be plenty more opportunities for Bernal, Rodríguez, and the rest of the British team to find success, and without a true GC leader to work for, they'll take each stage as it comes.
"We have the whole Tour," Rodríguez concluded. "It's how it ends, not how it begins."
