There were hugs and there were high fives at the Bahrain Victorious team bus after Pello Bilbao out-sprinted Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) to claim stage 10 of the Tour de France. But, there was also a palpable sense of emotional release as the team celebrated a keenly-sought victory to dedicate to their late teammate Gino Mäder.
The Spaniard is one of only two riders on Bahrain's Tour team who competed at the Tour de Suisse, where Mäder died, aged 26, after crashing on a descent less than one month ago.
Bilbao had been looking for this win ever since the race started in the Basque Country and a puncture had foiled his dream of getting away on the final climb of stage 1 and fighting for a solo victory in Mäder’s name.
He channelled his grief in the tense final kilometre, smartly marking late attacks and then unleashing his emotion to finally live up to his team's name in the Tour de France - a career first.
Bahrain Victorious has tried to set up Bilbao for a victory since the Tour began in his homeland last week, and the 33-year-old withstood unrelenting, undulating terrain and stinking heat to deliver on stage 10.
Bilbao pointed to his chest when speaking to the press after what was his maiden Tour stage win, highlighting the "#rideforGino" dedication to Mäder on his jersey.
He revealed that he found solace in spending time with family following the tragic loss as he simultaneously mourned and had to prepare for the Tour, with a "special motivation".
"It's been hard," he said, maintaining his composure despite the grief that still reverberates through the peloton, after a hot day in the saddle, with the mercury hitting 38 degrees Celsius at the finish in Issoire.
"When we left the race in Switzerland the sports directors saw that everybody was so affected, and they also offered psychological help but in the end, for me, the best psychological help was to go home.
"I stayed with my family and especially with my daughter, Martina, she gave me all the tranquillity because kids don't understand this difficult situation. So, it was easier to forget all the difficult emotions for this period.
"I started to feel better on the bike, to believe I had good legs and I needed to do my best for Gino, and also to try to enjoy this special moment for me because the Tour de France is something that doesn't happen to everybody.
"In the end, it was possible to arrive to the Tour in good condition."
Climbing up the GC standings
As a bonus, the time Bilbao gained on the stage propelled him into the top five of the general classification.
"Today the priority was to fight for the stage win. I have good condition. I know that today I spent a lot, but I hope that tomorrow I can recover and try to be as competitive as possible," Bilbao said in a post-race press conference on Tuesday.
Any win in the Tour de France marks a high point in a team’s history, let alone the race or season itself. But on this occasion, that sense of ‘mission accomplished’ resonated far more deeply than usual, as Bahrain Victorious looked to honour their rider who should have been part of this year’s Tour de France lineup - but tragically, was not.
“An objective was to get a stage win and dedicate it to Gino,” Sports Director Xavi Florencio told Cyclingnews, “and we’ve done that, and that’s a huge relief. We were really looking for that.”
As for Bilbao himself, “When he got in the break of the day, we hoped it might go out to eight or nine minutes, but once it got to three minutes they weren’t going to let it go any higher.
“So we thought, OK, let’s change strategy and go for the stage 100 percent, and all the time you can get is good for the overall as well.”
Bilbao might not have made it onto the provisional podium, but he has now moved into the top five overall, at 4:34 on Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard, after gaining nearly three minutes on the main bunch.
“It was difficult for us, because after everything that happened in the last month, emotions were running high. And it’s easy to say you want to get in the break, but on a day like today when so many people were trying that’s easier said than done," Florencio added.
“But apart from being a really nice guy, Pello is a real all-rounder. He’s the kind of guy that can go for the overall like in the Tour Down Under where he got the podium this year, he can work for Mikel Landa if you ask him, he can go for the stage win in breakaways like today and he can even go for the sprint. He managed it all perfectly and he got the win.”
Continuing Mäder's environmental ffort
Bilbao has already honoured Mäder's memory in the lead-up to the race, pledging to make donations to an environmental charity based off his results. It was a nod to Mäder, who, concerned about climate change, last year announced he would donate 1 CHF for every rider that he beat through the 2022 season to environmental charities.
"He was such a great person and always worried about more than sport," Bilbao said.
"[I'm] trying to give continuation to the job that Gino started."
Bilbao moved up six places on the general classification with the stage victory and is now fifth overall, trailing defending Tour champion and race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) by four minutes and 34 seconds.
Speaking post-race, Vingegaard sympathized with Bilbao and the Bahrain Victorious team.
"I think it's really awful what happened in Suisse and it's so bad that I cannot even imagine how it must feel," the Dane said.
"Even for me it feels really bad when a guy passes away and it's so sad. So, for those guys, I'm feeling with them, and feeling with the family as well, of Gino, and I'm also happy that they are doing well. I guess they are doing it for Gino."
