“Remco gave it everything, I was pulling as hard as I could" - Pello Bilbao details echelons attempt in successful day at UAE Tour

Pello Bilbao started the UAE Tour as a big favourite, and his status has improved on the opening day as he thrived in the crosswinds. The climber now fits in the first positions and having improved his chances of winning the overall classification.

“It would have been a shame for the stage to finish with a bunch sprint. It was what we expected, the last time they started from that castle, the same thing happened, with echelons from the gun and today we knew what was coming," Bilbao admitted to Cyclingnews in a post-race interview. “We were waiting for that moment right from the start to take the initiative. We were ready.”

From the start Bilbao was present in the front echelons, putting forwards his stage-racing skills. Bahrain had a heavy presence in the front groups, with sprinter Phil Bauhaus also present in the decisive split later on in the day. There, Bilbao was again in the front group, one of the three GC riders who made it across - alongside Remco Evenepoel and Luke Plapp.

“So we decided to go flat out with everything and see if we could break it all up again, and it worked out well," he says. “Remco gave it everything, I was pulling as hard as I could, and Ineos was working well as well. Let’s say we’ve cleaned up the overall classification a bit and we’ve got a good advantage now.”

“And after all the hard work the team did, always taking the initiative and being so brave, it would have been a pity if we’d just reached the finish in a big group," the Basque continued. The effort earned him 51 seconds over many of his GC rivals, and a spot as a big favourite for the podium.

“We knew folks were tired, and so we tried again, and we pushed them hard…and tomorrow there’s another team time trial,” he concluded. Bahrain - Victorious face an important challenge on stage 2 as they fight to keep Bilbao within reach of the lead into the mountains, as well as maintain the gap created yesterday.