Pello Bilbao: UAE Tour echelon attack 'has helped us clear out the GC a bit'

Pello Bilbao UAE Tour
(Image credit: Getty)

“It would have been a shame for the stage to finish with a bunch sprint,” was Pello Bilbao’s explanation for launching the final, successful echelon attack of stage 1 of the UAE Tour and gaining some vital time on GC.

Thanks to the attack, together with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuckStep) and Luke Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers), Bilbao, third last year, has gained nearly a minute on all the other contenders ahead of Tuesday’s crunch team time trial and Wednesday’s first summit finish.

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Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.