In what is due to be his final Tour de France, Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) rolled back the years to take the most stunning win of his career on stage 1 of the 2024 race, surviving a charging peloton by the barest of margins to net him a first-ever stint in the yellow jersey.
Bardet crossed the line with teammate Frank van den Broek after the DSM duo put on a masterclass on the road from Florence to Rimini, completing a breathless finish with only a few metres and five seconds to spare from Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) who took third.
10km to go, 5km to go and the flamme rouge all ticked by, with it looking more impossible by the kilometre for the duo to make it after cresting the final climb with a healthy 1:45 lead. But with the chasers faltering, when they rounded the final 90-degree corner on the Adriatic seafront, it was clear they were going to do it.
The Frenchman came alongside Van den Broek after he managed one final pull and crossed the line for the win, with the pair both putting their hands on their heads and mirroring each other's disbelief in celebration.
Bardet has won three stages of the Tour de France, the King of the Mountains classification and twice been on the overall podium in his prime, but none of those achievements will compare to taking the leader’s maillot jaune as a proud Frenchman. It’s his first Tour stage win in seven years and he’s the first Frenchman to don the famous yellow jersey since Julian Alaphilippe in the 2021 race.
“I had to back myself, I had to hope that this would go well. I didn’t know the course particularly well but Frank [van den Broek] was really strong out in front and I felt that I had nothing to lose essentially,” said Bardet, who launched his initial move from the peloton with 50km to go.
He bridged across the day’s early break, which included Van den Broek but there wasn’t just one last death pull from the Dutchman, instead came a total cooperation for the rest of the stage right to the line.
“Because Frank was so strong, we were able to work together and go for it and he really deserves this win as much as me. I don’t really have the words, it’s sport.”
Lidl-Trek, EF Education-Easy Post and Visma-Lease a Bike led the charge off the final descent of the final climb which crested in microstate San Marino, but after such a brutally tough opening day in scorching temperatures, they ran out of steam.
“We had really hard conditions up there,” said Bardet. “It was hot, then we had the wind in our faces so it was a really extraordinary scenario that we were taking on.”
But it was no surprise to see the man from Brioude, close to the middle of France where temperatures are hot, thrive in the heat to take his first-ever Tour de France yellow jersey - a career goal for Bardet.
“It’s certainly one of the goals I set for my career [the yellow jersey]. I’ve been really close before. It’s been within touching distance but I’ve never been able to do it,” he said.
“Today I just wasn't sure that it was going to be able to happen. But I had a great teammate with me. And I think when I reflect on this victory, I will look back and remember just how special it was.”
Van den Broek himself had a great share of the spoils, ending the day on the podium alongside his teammate, who is 10 years his elder, with the green points jersey and white best young riders jersey alongside second overall.
How it Unfolded
Ice vests were at the ready for a scorching start in Florence, as for the first ever time in its 121-year history, the Tour de France started in Italy. There was a great reception for the 176 riders as they navigated the long 16km neutral zone out of the city which instead of turning pink for the Giro d’Italia, was lined with yellow for the Grand Départ of the Tour.
The bunch rode past the iconic sites in the Tuscan city from Brunelleschi's Duomo and Giotto's Campanile to the Uffizi Gallery and across the Arno River on the Ponte Vecchio bridge but all eyes were on race director Christian Prudhomme and the flag drop.
Racing got underway with 206km separating them from the finish in Rimini and the attacks came right from the off, with the likes of Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Bardet among those trying their luck.
Small groups formed but they were closely followed and not allowed much of an advantage, until a stacked seven-man break made a sizeable gap and looked to have formed the break of the day - Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Madouas, Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Clément Champoussin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Frank van den Broek (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Sandy Dujardin and Mattéo Vercher (both TotalEnergies).
Desperation set in behind for Uno-X Mobility who first sent Odd Christian Eiking and Rasmus Tiller to try and bridge across the one-minute gap but it was their teammate Jonas Ambrahamsen who managed to counter across to the front, bringing Ryan Gibbons with him to form a group of nine in the break.
This took place on the first and longest climb of the day to Col de Valico Tre Faggi (12.5 km at 5.1%), where sprinters started to struggle in the near 40-degree heat.
Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) was the big focus, with the veteran fast man suffering majorly in the heat and even vomiting on his bike as he dropped away with over 160km to race.
At the front of the peloton, EF Education-EasyPost, who had let the gap go out to as big as five minutes, took up the mantle of chasing.
The break shrunk to five over the next three climbs when Vercher, Dujardin, Champoussin and Izagirre couldn’t hold the pace, and over the tough Côte de Barbott climb their advantage was significantly reduced down to 1:52.
After a lull in racing throughout the middle phase, UAE Team Emirates moved up to the front in support of GC leader Tadej Pogačar, who was the pre-stage favourite for the day, with 72km to go.
Abrahamsen, Madouas, Van den Broek and Gibbons showed the best climbing legs over the climb, with Mohoric making it back on thanks to his great descending skills.
Defending Tour winners Visma-Lease a Bike took over from UAE in their new blue jerseys over the Côte de San Leo. This reduced the deficit further to just 1:30 with two climbs still to come.
But the pace still wasn’t high enough for some, prompting Bardet to go on the attack 50km from the line in what is his final Tour de France.
Van den Broek dropped himself from the break and put on a big turn for his leader, Bardet, whose savvy solo move meant he went over the crest of the climb 1:20 in front of the peloton. The DSM duo quickly dropped Abrahamsen and Madouas to take over the lead as a duo.
The next opportunist to try and bridge across was EF’s Ben Healy at the bottom of the Côte de Montemaggio (4.2km at 6.6%) climb. He had a 1:23 advantage to try and make up at the time of his attack.
Visma eased after the launch from Healy and with a man up the road for EF, the American squad knocked off any chase, leading the gap to go back out to 1:40 from Bardet and Van den Broek,
The descent off the Montemaggio climb led the race into San Marino, with Bardet and his teammate holding a one-minute advantage over Healy and 1:45 on the peloton who had slowed down as they approached the day’s final climb - the Côte de San Marino (7.1km at 4.8%).
With under 30km to go, there was finally change at the front of the peloton as Ineos and Lidl-Trek took over on the front, likely pacing for Tom Pidcock and Mads Pedersen, who had managed to survive the climbs so far in the day.
Bardet, to give himself a better chance of making it, rode up the final climb on the front with Van den Broek in his wheel, knowing how useful his young Dutch teammate would be on the final descent and flat run for home in Rimini.
EF then made another move and attacked their own man Healy after the Irishman started stalling in his chase further up the road, with Neilson Powless leading Alberto Bettiol to the top of the climb so he could try to launch in the Italian bands.
The breathless run for home kicked off fully when Visma, EF and Trek were all committing men to the chase into Rimini, eating away at the DSM duo’s advantage in quick time. The time gap ticked away right until the final corner where it disappeared from the broadcast.
And at the same time, Bardet and Van den Broek had disappeared from the chasers in the final few corners, pulling what was posted to an 11-second gap out to an unreachable lead. The Dutchman took a final pull, barely able to pedal anymore, before Bardet took over to take the win in what will be a memorable Tour de France winners picture for years to come. Incroyable racing in Rimini.
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