The look on Pero Bilbao's face summed up the feelings of the chasing group in the Tour de Alps. It was a look of surprise, fatigue, and a mixture of respect and missed opportunities.

The Basque climber and fast finisher beat Romain Bardet (Team DSM) and Vincenzo Albanese (Eolo Cometa) in the first stage sprint, but it was a battle for second place after Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroen) took his first career win in a brilliant solo ride. It was a battle for second place after Jeffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën) took his first career win with a brilliant solo run.

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorius) finished 5 seconds behind Bouchard and earned a 6-second time bonus, but he was riding to win the stage from Cre to the Primiero/San Martino di Castrozza at the foot of the Dolomites across the Sugana Valley. He was.

"I'm not too disappointed," he said. He deserved the win, he had a great solo," Bilbao said.

"I actually thought the race was over at one point. Bouchard had two minutes, but with the valley winds in the last 15 km, it was difficult for him to ride solo to the finish.

"But there was no agreement within the peloton to work together 100%. I tried to pull as much as I could in the last 5 km and came within a few seconds. I think I proved that I can run great in this race.

Bilbao won a stage to Pieve di Bono in last year's Tour of the Alps, defeating final overall winner Simon Yates and Alexandre Vlasov to finish second overall, 58 seconds behind the British climber.

With Yates and Vlasov absent this year, Bilbao's overall ambitions are legitimate. He already took a stage win in the recent Iturria Basque, defeating Julian Alaphilippe in a sprint contest. He also finished third in the Jebel Hafeet mountain stage, the decisive stage of the UAE Tour, just five seconds behind overall winner Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates).

The small but fast finishing Basque rider is ideal for the short but mountainous Tour de Alps stages.

"I've got a bonus second for GC and my goal is to fight for the podium," he said. It would be great if I could win a stage as well. I'm here to race."