Every year, at the start of the Tour, we get used to seeing the “small” escapees being eaten by a peloton with sharp teeth. Even more so when a yellow jersey is at stake. The number of riders disappointed after seeing the gluttons of the peloton take away any chance of victory during the first stages is uncountable. Which places the feat achieved this Saturday, on the roads of Rimini, by Romain Bardet and his young Dutch teammate Frank Van den Broek even higher. A coup de force that finds part of its explanations in a series of circumstances.
It all started with the Frenchman’s decisive attack 52 km from the finish, on the San Leo hill (2nd category). Bardet, who had already tried to escape at the start of Florence, placed a clear banderilla in a much reduced peloton, then towed only by the Visma lease a bike who dreamed of offering the stage to Wout Van Aert.
