Tadej Pogachar threw his hands in the air as if he had just won the opening stage of the Tour de France. It was his teammate Adam Yates and his own joy at his strong ride and third place on the stage.

Yates finished 12 seconds ahead of the pack that Pogachar led to the finish line and ahead of his twin brother Simon to take the stage win.

As Pogachar crossed the finish to reach Yates, he hugged him and tapped his helmet in delight.

"When I crossed the line and saw Adam win, maybe I was happier than when I won. It's a double joy." Pogachar said after putting on the white jersey of the Best Young Rider.

Pogachar received a four-second time bonus for third place, so UAE Team Emirates took the yellow jersey for Yates and third overall for Slovenia. If the 2023 Tour de France were a 21-round boxing match, UAE Team Emirates would have punched Jonas Vingegaard to win on points.

Vingegaard was in the lead group with several teammates, but was 18 seconds behind Yates overall and 4 seconds behind Pogachar.

Pogachar had doubts about his condition after breaking three bones in his hand in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, taking several weeks off the bike and not training on the road for six weeks.

The fact that he caught up to Yates on the steep Côte de Paix section with 10km to go and pulled away from many of his overall rivals shows that he is close to his best, despite the disruption to his preparation.

"I'm really happy with my performance and the performance of the whole team," Yates said.

"I think the energy started to run on the last climb. It was super hard, but I'm happy with the form."

Pogachar compared UAE Team Emirates' start to the 2023 Tour de France to 2020.

"It's a great start," Pogachar said happily.

"It reminds me of 2020 when Alex Christophe won the first stage in Nice. I hope it will be the same this year."

Pogachar, of course, won the 2020 Tour de France.