The opening stage of the Tour de France turned out to be a fairy tale for the Yates family, even if one twin had to return to the team hotel after a one-two finish in Bilbao.

Adam Yates of UAE Team Emirates led the pair in the uphill finish. Adam Yates swept past his brother, Simon of Jayco Aloura, who had escaped on the day's final climb less than 10 km earlier, with a few meters to go.

As a result, Adam won the yellow by 18 seconds over teammate Tadei Pogachar and 22 seconds over his other GC rivals. Simon is in second place overall by 8 seconds, the first one-two finish as a professional for the pair, who had successfully turned the tables in Morzine exactly 10 years earlier at the Tour de Lavenir.

"I am quite happy for him. Simon, who has the Vuelta a España title and 10 Grand Tour stages under his belt, reflected after the stage. We're pretty competitive, so I'm going to try to get on top of him from now on."

Adam, meanwhile, said his brother would be "a nuisance" for the next three weeks and that the two raced professionally, not as a family, until the finish in Bilbao. [Adam Yates said at the post-stage press conference, "He showed he was in great shape. When we left together, I said, 'I can't work, I can't work. He's a professional and I'm a professional. That's professional bike riding."

"With four or five kilometers to go, Taddeji called me and said, 'The back is a little confused, you can start working. Then the gas pedal was full throttle until the finish. He used a little bit of energy on the descent so I could use a little more on the final climb.

The two have not raced a Grand Tour together since the 2019 Tour de France, when they were still with Mitchelton Scott. Adam has since moved to Ineos Grenadiers and this year to UAE Team Emirates, but until Saturday's 182km stage, they had never faced off on opposing teams in the Giro, Tour, or Vuelta.

After Adam cleared the last climb of the day, a short but steep pike halfway up, things were settled at the summit with Pogachar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Victor Lafaye. Simon was one of the riders who climbed back up, and he and his brother soon scored the winning move.

"It was a bit difficult to get into the climb up there. There were four or five riders in the jumbo, so it was hard to get in position. We did a good job, and when the UAE made their first push, I was a little bit behind, and when the UAE made their first push, I was a little bit behind, and when the UAE made their first push, I was a little bit behind, and when the UAE made their first push, I was a little bit behind."

"At the end of the day, I went across like a nudge. There was a little bit of a scramble at the top and then Adam came back. And then Adam came back. He rolled to the front and nodded to Pogachar, 'You can go. So off he went.'

Adam Yates built up an advantage of over 15 seconds on the way to Bilbao, on Pogachar's signal.

Simon Yates later admitted that the warm and humid day had caused him to cramp on the uphill before the finish, which allowed Adam to pick up the pace and win by four seconds.

"I took my chances. It was pretty close. I had a little cramp in the final. Unfortunately he got ahead of me, but I'll have more chances in the future. "

Brent Copeland, general manager of Jayco Alura, told Cycling News that while it wasn't a perfect start to the 2023 Tour, it was a great opening for the GC man and his team.

"It certainly would have been a fairy-tale ending to see him take the yellow jersey. But no one gets the yellow jersey more than his brother.

"More than that, it shows how well conditioned he is. That's important for us. We will take it day by day over the next few days and see how it goes. It's a good start for us. I wish I could have stayed in yellow, but it is what it is.

Simon Yates has not raced since abandoning the Tour de Romandie in late April.

"I hadn't raced since April, so there was a big question mark. 'I knew he was in good condition, but I didn't know what kind of racing conditions he was in. We knew we were going to run today to protect him, but we didn't know up to what point we were going to run.

But it was Adam who eventually took the lead, in one of the hardest Tour starts in recent memory.

He was named co-leader of the team heading into the Tour by UAE Team Emirates representative Mauro Gianetti, who himself confirmed that he and the team fully support Pogachar this July, despite the yellow jersey.

"After all, we are here for Tadej. Taddei is the best rider in the world and has been for the last few years. 'If that's the best way to win the Tour de France, then that's what I'm going to do. [Today was perfect. It depends on the race, but I'll play this card for three weeks and see what happens. I tried to set it up on the last climb. The first stage of the Tour is always confusing and this one was too.

"Going into the climb, everyone was fresh, ready and motivated. I just tried to get Tadej in a good position to take him up the climb and pull him along so he would be less stressed. I think we did a good job. When we got to the top and into the descent, there was a bit of a headwind. I was in the back, a little bit of speed, and then I jumped out the front."