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Bilbao and a group of strong climbers tracked down a bold attack from Krist Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) in the final three kilometres of stage 10, then weathered the attacks to take out the victory in a sprint ahead of George Zimmerman (Intermarche-Wanty-Circus) and Australian Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroen).
An emotional Bilbao dedicated his victory to deceased teammate Gino Mader, whom Bilbao is paying tribute with his charity campaign this Tour de France. Mader died while racing at the recent Tour de Suisse, a loss mourned by the cycling community. Bilbao is donating a euro for every rider he finishes ahead of each stage to repopulate deforested areas, a cause Mader himself had raised money for.
"I went with everything I had, with all energy I had, remembering the reason I was riding – for Gino.
"It was a special victory. It was hard to prepare and to come with a positive energy in the Tour. I wanted to ride the first two stages for the win but it wasn’t possible. Then I waited for my moment.
"My overall position was a problem, but I decided to make one move – the right move. This is my first victory in the Tour, after 13 years as a pro. It's such a special moment for me."
The early breakaway was a hotly contested one, with the medium mountains terrain without a summit finish perfect for the attackers to prosper. It took a long time to get much leeway from the peloton, but they eventually got a bit of space and a 14-rider group was going to contest for the stage finish in Issoire.
The Côte de la Chapelle-Marcousse was the final major climb and Australian Nick Schultz immediately took the front and set a blistering tempo for his teammate Krist Neilands for a couple of kilometres, shredding the breakaway group before pulling off the front, the signal for Neilands to launch his attack.
The Latvian rider immediately took a big gap, 38 seconds by the top of the climb, but that gap was not enough to survive on the descent and flat coming on the rest of the route to the finish in Issoire.
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Stage 10 - Winning Moment - Tour de France 2023
A strong group containing Bilbao, Zimmerman, O’Connor, Esteban Chaves (EF Education-Easypost) and Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) hunted down Neilands, catching him with just over three kilometres left to race.
O’Connor attacked on an uphill rise with 1.4 kilometres left, with only Bilbao and Pedrero able to follow initially. The trio slowed over the top of the short climb, and Zimmerman put in a flying attack that only Bilbao could match.
O’Connor bridged across to get back in touch for the sprint finish, but he didn’t have the legs to go with Bilbao’s final acceleration, with Zimmerman also succumbing to finish second.
Bilbao was also the big winner on the general classification, jumping six places from eleventh to fifth on the overall standings, while Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) retained the yellow jersey.
