After winning stage 10 of the Tour de France, Spanish rider Pello Bilbao dedicated his triumph to his late Bahrain-Victorious teammate Gino Mader.

Mader, 26, died in a crash during last month’s Tour de Suisse.

“It was the only reason [for the win],” an emotional Bilbao said afterward. “It was a special one, for Gino.”

Jonas Vingegaard maintained his overall lead, but Bilbao advanced to fifth position, ahead of the British trio of the Yates twins, Adam and Simon, and Tom Pidcock.

Bilbao’s sprint came at the end of a fantastic day of racing on a mountainous 167km course that began at the Vulcania entertainment park.

As the race started at a fast pace following Monday’s rest day, Vingegaard and his closest challenger, two-time winner Tadej Pogacar, were embroiled in an early break.

With 80 kilometers to left, 14 cyclists broke away to create an escape group, with Bilbao among them.

Krists Neilands of Latvia attacked his breakaway teammates over the summit of the last hill and created a 35-second gap, but he was overtaken with 3km to go before Bilboa beat him and four other riders to the line.

At the age of 33, Bilbao’s victory was his first at any of the Grand Tours, and he paid tribute to Mader afterwards.

“It was difficult to prepare the last two weeks with him on my mind,” Bilbao explained. “But my family helped me a lot to just stay calm and positive and put all my positive energy into doing something nice in the Tour.”

“I wanted to do it in the beginning [in his native Basque country] because it was so special to me, but it was not possible, so I just waited for my moment.”

“I was probably thinking that my overall position would be a problem, but I decided to go all-in, and it turned out to be the right move.”

“Winning my first Tour victory after 13 years as a professional is such a special moment for me.”

Wednesday’s stage 11 takes the Tour 179.8 kilometers from Clermont-Ferrand to Moulins and has three more classified hills, but is expected to end in a pack sprint.

Stage 10 results

1. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) 3hrs 52mins 34secs

2. Georg Zimmermann (Ger/Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) Same time

3. Ben O’Connor (Aus/AG2R-Citroen)

4. Krists Neilands (Lat/Israel-Premier Tech)

5. Jhoan Esteban Chaves (Col/EF Education-EasyPost)

6. Antonio Pedrero (Spa/Movistar) +3secs

7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl-Trek) +27secs

8. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol/Ineos Grenadiers) Same time

9. Warren Barguil (Fra/Team Arkea) +30secs

10. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra/Soudal Quick-Step) +32secs

General classification after stage 10

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) 42hrs 33mins 13secs

2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +17secs

3. Jai Hindley (Aus/Bora-Hansgrohe) +2mins 40secs

4. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +4mins 22secs

5. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +4mins 34secs

6. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +4mins 39secs

7. Simon Yates (GB/Team Jayco-AlUla) +4mins 44secs

8. Thomas Pidcock (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +5mins 26secs

9. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +6mins 01secs

10. Sepp Kuss (US/Jumbo-Visma) +6mins 45secs