MADRID, 29 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
French cyclist Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) won stage 1 of the men’s Tour de France on Saturday, a 206-kilometre race starting in Florence and finishing in Rimini, on a tough mid-mountain course that saw some big names, such as Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Astana Kazakhstan), but which had a nice ending thanks to a gift from the Dutchman Frank van den Broek.
The heat in Italian lands heralded a day that was too complicated to be the first of this ‘Grande Boucle’. It also did not bode well when the Czech Jan Hirt (Soudal-Quick Step) collided with a spectator’s backpack at the exit from Florence, fell to the ground and broke three teeth.
In this strange context, the Norwegians Rasmus Tiller and Odd Christian Eiking, both from Uno-X Mobility, broke away from the peloton in search of seven runners in front. Not in vain, Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Clément Champoussin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Frank Van den Broek (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Sandy Dujardin and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) had jumped at km 17 with the purpose of staging the escape.
Lidl-Trek and then Uno-X then rode at the head of the peloton, in the bulk of which there was a bike change by the Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). Winner of the last two Tours de France, his performance for the 2024 edition is unknown due to the pneumothorax that caused him to fall multiple times on April 4 during the descent of a mountain pass in Itzulia.
Three months later, Vingegaard and the other ‘rogues’ found themselves at km 49.7 with the Col de Valico Tre Faggi (2nd cat.), a 12.5-kilometre climb at an average gradient of 5.1% to become the first climb of this Tour. The demands soon took their toll and the most illustrious casualty was Cavendish, who was dropped more than 160 kilometres from the finish.
The Briton was accompanied by three teammates from Astana Kazakhstan, including Italian Michele Gazzoli, who retired and thus became the second debutant this century to retire on stage 1 of the ‘Grande Boucle’. Before him, it had happened to Frenchman Hervé Duclos-Lassalle, who broke his wrist in a fall in 2008.
UAE Team Emirates took the lead in the peloton, with a gap of 4:40 to the breakaway, and Belgian Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took centre stage in every sprint for the mountains classification, in a succession of climbs and descents that made the climbs even tougher.
Visma-Lease a Bike was placed at the front of the peloton while the UAE Team Emirates lost a gregarious man, the German Nils Politt. Among the escapees, the Spanish Ion Izagirre was fighting for the leadership of the mountain jersey. But without a doubt the surname most repeated during the day was Cavendish, as he gradually gave up more and more and more time.
With 54.3 kilometres to go, Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) also had to change his bike due to a presumed mechanical problem, just before passing the Rocca di Maiolo fortress in the town of Maioletto. And it was at this point that the veteran Bardet attacked, in one of his last gallops.
Planning to retire at the end of this cycling season, the Frenchman was looking for the front of the race, where having his teammate Van den Broek was attractive. In fact, the Dutchman’s momentum was leaving rivals behind as the gap between his group and the peloton narrowed, reaching a minute and a half on the Côte de San Leo (2nd cat.).
An attack by Irishman Ben Healy on the Côte de Montemaggio (3rd cat.) stirred up the hornet’s nest at km 167.1 of the stage. This was combined with the fact that his team, EF Education-EasyPost, took on the responsibility of riding ever more strongly in order to hunt down the main players in the breakaway; they were gradually falling victim to Van den Broek.
Despite a 15 kilometer chase, the Dutchman survived the peloton and let his teammate from the dsm-firmenich PostNL cross the finish line as the first yellow jersey, after a time of 5:07:22 and barely five seconds ahead of men in theory. stronger, like the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) or the Spanish Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious).
2024-06-29 16:06:35
#Van #den #Broek #Bardet #stage #win #yellow #jersey #Tour #France
