Romain Bardet takes the yellow jersey in his final Tour de France
Mark Cavendish has a rough day on opening stage
Photo by:
sirotti
The Grand Départ of the Tour de France’s 111th edition in Florence, Italy, led to an exciting day which Romain Bardet won to take the yellow jersey in his final Tour. It’s his fourth career Tour win and first time in yellow. Wout van Aert was third and Tadej Pogačar was fourth, while Derek Gee came 14th. Mark Cavendish had a tough day, exhibiting illness on the first of seven climbs.
The Course
Stage 1 traveled northeast to Rimini on the Adriatic Sea. Seven climbs were on offer over 206 km, and the final four climbs promised early action. The fifth ascent, Côte de San Leo, was short but steep. The penultimate climb of Côte de Montemaggio was a little less arduous, and the final challenge, Cat. 3 Côte de San Marino, crested 26 km from the line. The final 16 km were flat. It was a hot day.
One of the hardest Tour de France opening stages in history!
The #TDF2024 starts with a 206km stage from Firenze to Rimini, which will see the peloton take on seven classified climbs, the last of these inside the final 30 kilometers. pic.twitter.com/PoDQmPyAFH
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) June 29, 2024
An oddly-large breakaway for a Grand Tour opening stage established itself on the first climb of the day, Cat. 2 Col de Valico Tre Faggi, with Ion Izagirre taking the maximum KOM points out of the octet.
Mark Cavendish, still trying to own the Tour stage win record outright, was having a terrible opening stage, 3:30 behind the peloton at the crest of that first climb. His team tried to help him.
By Climb 2, Côte des Forche, the EF Education-Easypost-led peloton was +4:00 behind the breakaway. Cofidis’ Izagirre scored more points. At the 111st edition’s first intermediate sprint, Jasper Philipsen claimed the ninth-most points.
The day’s longest climb was the third, Côte de Carnaio. The Carnaio streamlined the breakaway. Izagirre was first over once more.
Côte de Barbotto was the middle climb. The race had received its first abandon, Cavendish’s teammate Michele Gazzoli, by then. UAE-Emirates grabbed the front of the peloton, putting everyone on edge. In short order, Groupama-FDJ’s French favorites Lenny Martinez and David Gaudu were dropped, as was world champion Mathieu van der Poel. Up front, Izagirre was popped from the breakaway, so fugitive Jonas Abrahamsen took over the KOM lead on the road.
By the foot of San Leo, there were five escapees left with 2:00 in hand on the 55-strong peloton.
Bardet made a dig and bridged over to teammate Frank van den Broek in the breakaway. At San Leo’s peak, Jonas Abrahamsen secured the second-most points.
Côte de Montemaggio was the penultimate climb. The now-Bardet-dominated breakaway took 1:26 onto its slopes, but Abrahamsen fell away. Ben Healy burst out of the Visma-Lease a Bike-led peloton. Bardet and his DSM-Firmenich-Post NL teammate were soon by themselves up front.
The Final Climb
The DSM duo hit Côte de San Marino with nearly a 2:00 advantage, Healy still attempting to bridge.
After cresting Bardet and pal had 26 km to run to the coast. When the road flattened with 16 km remaining, Bardet’s gap was 1:25. Lidl-Trek and EF Education meant to prevent his victory.
15km to go and the gap is still holding at 1’22”. Come on guys! 💪🏻
This is definitely us right now 😅 pic.twitter.com/HfDzJoU97w
— Team dsm-firmenich PostNL (@dsmfirmpostnl) June 29, 2024
It started to look sketchy for Bardet, but the plucky duo hung on by its fingernails.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
