Stage 1 of the 2024 Tour de France rolled out from Florence, Italy today. In what was said to be one of the hardest opening days in the history of the race, it was Romain Bardet and his DSM Firmenich PostNL teammate Frank van den Broek that made the opening salvo, crossing the line together just 100m ahead of a surging peloton. Wout van Aert (Visma – Lease a Bike) took the third step of the podium.
This could be a final moment of glory for Bardet, who is retiring this year.
Bardet made his go for the win with 50km to go, jumping out of a fractured peloton on the third to last climb of the day to catch Van den Broek, who was part of an early break. The duo bridged to the lone surviving escapees Valentin Madouas (Groupama FDJ) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno X) and easily surpassed them by the final climb before the finish.
Visma-Lease a Bike, looking to position Jonas Vingegaard for a win, grabbed control of the peloton, and especially EF Education First – EasyPost, who were looking to set up local hero and Italian champ Alberto Bettiol to put on a show.
“Hard To Describe”
Speaking after the stage an emotional Bardet said: “It’s hard to describe. I couldn’t really dream to achieve something like this. I think we just raced our bikes today and went for it as a team. With the way the route was and how Frank, Oscar and the rest of the team rode today, big respect and fair play to them. We just wanted to have fun and ride our bikes like there was no tomorrow. It was a long run together in the last 40 kilometres. When I had bridged across, I could feel that Frank was super pumped to have me there too, so we just went full gas to the line after that. We communicated a lot but in the end we didn’t have much to say, we knew what we needed to do and just go for it until the finish. Frank is a true gentlemen, half of this jersey belongs to him. I can honestly only say all of the compliments in the world to him. We’ll enjoy this as a team, it’s the perfect start to the race for us.”
A delighted Van den Broek added: “It’s amazing, I don’t have any words for it. We had a plan together to be there and competing in the first weekend. From the beginning we were good as a team and I made it into the break. Romain then made the jump to the group and I could help him. It was good as he could then pace the last climb as I was on my limit there and he waited for me. Then I could do some turns on the flat run in but it was a headwind and very hard. The last straight felt so long. I could see the peloton and then it was about putting our heads down and just pushing the last energy out of our legs, and we gave full commitment to the line, I even had cramp in the last five kilometres. Maybe in a few hours I’ll realise what’s happened.”
4th for Pogacar
Tadej Pogačar was 4th at the end of the stage, preceded by Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) in the sprint of the group that reached the arrival 5″ after that the duo of Bardet & Van den Broek.
UAE Team Emirates managed to arrive relatively stress free to Rimini on a day where many sufferend in the scorching temperatures.
Pogačar: “First day was super good, I tested the legs a little bit on the climbs with quite a good pace and they were ok, even with the heat.
In the end I tried to sprint also, I saw a opening and I almost beat two of the fastest guys in this race, Pedersen and Van Aert, but I was not lucky in the final: chapeau to the winner! Bardet and Van den Broek went with a very good pace and they deserved the victory.”
Cavendish Watch
Mark Cavendish, in his quest for the 35th stage win that would take him beyond “the Merckx mark.”, suffered today, crossing 35 minutes back from the race leaders.
Cavendish was seen vomiting on the bike on the first day of the climb. Whether it was the extreme heat or some other cause, it was not an audacious start to his chase for the record. Team officials did give not update on Cavendish’s health, though he appeared ill at the finish.
Stage 1 Brief Results
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) at 5h07’22”
- Frank Van Den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) s.t.
- Wout van Aert (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) at 5″
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.
- Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny)
General Classification After Stage 1
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) at 5h07’12”
- Frank Van Den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) at 4″
- Wout van Aert (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) at 11″
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) @ 15″
- Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) s.t.
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