Tadej Pogačar threw his arms in the air as if he had won the opening stage of the Tour de France, such was his happiness for teammate Adam Yates and his own strong ride and third on the stage.
Yates won the stage ahead of his twin brother Simon 12 seconds ahead of the group that Pogačar led to the line.
When Pogačar reached Yates beyond the finish, he hugged him and banged on his helmet with joy before punching the air.
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"When I crossed the line and I saw that Adam had won, I was maybe even more happy than if I'd won. It's a double celebration," Pogačar said after also pulling on the best young rider's white jersey.
Pogačar took a four-second time bonus for third place and so UAE Team Emirates have Yates in the yellow jersey and the Slovenian third overall. If the 2023 Tour de France is a boxing match of 21 rounds, UAE Team Emirates landed some punches on Jonas Vingegaard and won the round on points.
Vingegaard was in the front chase group with several teammates but he is 18 seconds down on Yates in the general classification and four seconds down on Pogačar.
Pogačar had doubted his form after fracturing three bones in his hand at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and spending several weeks off the bike and six weeks without training on the road.
The way he was able to follow Yates' surge on the steepest section of the Cote de Pike climb with 10km to go and distanced so many of their overall rivals, indicates he is near his best, despite his disrupted preparation.
"I'm really happy with my performance, as well as that of all the team," he said.
"I think the energy started running on the final climb. It was super hard but I am satisfied with the shape."
Pogačar compared UAE Team Emirates' start to the 2023 Tour de France to that of 2020.
"It's an amazing start," Pogačar said happily.
"It reminds me of 2020 when Alex Kristoff won the first stage in Nice and by the end it was a good Tour. We hope for the same this year."
Of course, Pogačar won the 2020 Tour de France.
