Cycling: Romain Bardet wins first stage of the Tour de France

At the start of the 111th Tour de France, French professional cyclist Romain Bardet from the Dutch dsm team won the first stage. After 206 kilometers between Firenze (Florence) and the seaside resort of Rimini, he crossed the finish line ahead of his young teammate Frank van den Broek from the Netherlands. Both crossed the finish line as breakaway riders a few seconds ahead of the main field. Belgian Wout van Aert came in third. The 33-year-old Bardet took his fourth Tour stage win.

Bardet thus took over the yellow jersey of the overall leader. The first major exchange of blows between the two top favorites, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, failed to materialize. Sprint star Mark Cavendish also had to question his big goal of another stage win during the race to set the record alone at the start of the Tour de France. The 39-year-old fell significantly behind even before the first of the day’s seven climbs and struggled over most of the 3,600 meters of altitude. Cavendish was in danger of falling out of the time limit with a gap of more than 32 minutes to the leaders.

Tour de France

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The first of 21 stages began with a challenging route: the riders had to overcome 3,600 meters of elevation – according to the organizers, this was the highest elevation gain ever at the start. The high temperatures sapped the riders’ strength. Temperatures of up to 38 degrees were measured on some parts of the route. For the first time, the tour began in Italy.

Collision with spectator causes fall

The Tour began painfully for the Czech professional cyclist Jan Hirt. Shortly before the start of the stage in Florence, he collided with a spectator. Hirt’s two teeth were damaged. A spokesman for the Soudal-Quickstep team said the start was chaotic. Many spectators were gathered around the buses.

On the second day of the tour, the professionals will start in Cesenatico on Sunday. The city is the birthplace of the Tour de France winner Marco Pantani, who died in 2004. The stage ends in Bologna after 199.2 kilometers and some short but tough climbs.

At the start of the 111th Tour de France, French professional cyclist Romain Bardet from the Dutch dsm team won the first stage. After 206 kilometers between Firenze (Florence) and the seaside resort of Rimini, he crossed the finish line ahead of his young teammate Frank van den Broek from the Netherlands. Both crossed the finish line as breakaway riders a few seconds ahead of the main field. Belgian Wout van Aert came in third. The 33-year-old Bardet took his fourth Tour stage win.

Bardet thus took over the yellow jersey of the overall leader. The first major exchange of blows between the two top favorites, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, failed to materialize. Sprint star Mark Cavendish also had to question his big goal of another stage win during the race to set the record alone at the start of the Tour de France. The 39-year-old fell significantly behind even before the first of the day’s seven climbs and struggled over most of the 3,600 meters of altitude. Cavendish was in danger of falling out of the time limit with a gap of more than 32 minutes to the leaders.