Tour de France: Cyclists ride a 209 km stage today

(Patria) - The world's greatest cycling race, the Tour de France, started on Saturday, and today cyclists face the longest stage of 209 km from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastian. It is a hilly terrain, which always brings excitement and uncertainty.

In the first stage on Saturday, Briton Adam Yates (UAE Emirates) was victorious. The stage was held in the Spanish city of Bilbao, during which the world's best cyclists covered 182 kilometres through the hilly Basque landscape.

Yates reached the victory and the yellow jersey of the overall leader with the help of his twin brother Simon (Jayco-AlUla), with whom he broke away from the leading group 7.5 km before the finish.

Adam Yates is a teammate of one of the biggest favourites for the overall victory, two-time Tour de France winner Slovenian Tadej Pogačar, who finished the stage in third place, at the head of a group that also included his biggest rival and last year's Tour winner, ahead of whom he created a four-second advantage in the first stage thanks to the bonus he won.

Pogačar crossed the finish line with his arms raised high, as if he had won the stage, celebrating Adam Yates' victory, but also his own "small victory" over Vingegaard, which earned him the "white jersey" of the leader in the young riders' classification. Pogačar has won it in the last three editions of the greatest cycling race, and if he manages to do so for the fourth time, he will become the first in history to achieve this.

The first stage was not fortunate for two riders who could have fought for a high overall placing: Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF EasyPost - Education) and Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar), who crashed 22 km before the finish on a descent after the penultimate categorised climb. Mas had to withdraw after consulting doctors, while Carapaz reached the finish with a deficit of more than 15 minutes.