Romain Bardet won the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday in Rimini where the Frenchman donned his first yellow jersey after an extraordinary performance.
Having broken away from the peloton 50 kilometres from the finish, the DSM climber won ahead of his team-mate Frank van den Broek, with just a five-second lead over the group of favourites who were unable to catch the two escapees.
In a finale of breathtaking suspense, the two DSM runners resisted the return of the pack and the young Dutchman offered victory to his leader at the end of a scorching day which turned into an ordeal for many runners , except for the main favorites.
It is the fourth victory in the Tour for the 33-year-old from Auvergne who finished second in the general classification in 2016 and third the following year but had never before worn the yellow jersey.
He is playing his last Grande Boucle this year after announcing a few days ago that he was going to retire in June 2025.
In this very tough stage, run in scorching heat, Bardet and Van den Broek put on a fantastic double act.
Present since the start of the day in the breakaway which also included the Frenchman Valentin Madouas, the young Dutchman, 23, first waited for his leader when he extricated himself from the peloton to come and swallow up the breakaways one by one. A.
He then pulled huge relays to take him to the long flat part in the finale towards Rimini, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. And resist the return of the peloton in the traditional game of cat and mouse which often ends badly for the escapees.
