The first stage of the Tour de France, between Florence and Rimini (Italy), resulted in a French victory, with first place for Romain Bardet.
The 33-year-old runner won at the end of the effort.
For his last Grand Boucle, the Frenchman took the leader’s yellow jersey.
First day of the 2024 Tour and first French victory! Frenchman Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) won the starting stage of the 111th edition of the Grande Boucle, this Saturday, between Florence and Rimini (Italy). On the edge of the Adriatic Sea, the 33-year-old runner, second in the event in 2016 and third in 2017, beat his teammate Frank van den Broek, who started in the breakaway of the day and who led the leader from his training to victory.
Starting 50 kilometers from the finish of a very hilly stage (seven climbs), Romain Bardet joined Van den Broek at the head of the race. The two men then took off as a duo. After the final climb of the San Marino coast, the peloton of favorites, which was lurking behind the leading men, picked up the pace, leaving the two riders only around twenty seconds ahead. But the two champions didn’t give up until the final stretch. With the sprinters in sight a few meters behind them, Romain Bardet finally managed to win in the final, Van den Broek sacrificing himself to give him first place.
The tricolor, which is experiencing its last Grande Boucle this year, announced at the start of the Tour de France that it was losing interest in the general classification to aim for one or more stage victories. He finally achieves a double blow at the end of the first stage, since he will wear the leader’s yellow jersey tomorrow, for the second Italian day of the competition. The other favorites, like Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar or Remco Evenepoel, all finished in the same group, just behind the Frenchman.
