Romain Bardet wins the first stage and takes the yellow jersey

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. Coming out of the peloton 50 kilometers from the finish, the DSM climber won in front of his teammate Frank van den Broek, with only five seconds ahead of the group of favorites who failed to catch up with the two fugitives. .

Fourth Tour victory for the Auvergnat

In a thrilling finale, the two DSM riders resisted the pack’s comeback and the young Dutchman offered victory to his leader at the end of a scorching day that turned into an ordeal for many riders, 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 second the following year but had never before worn the yellow jersey.

This year he is competing in his last Grand Boucle after announcing a few days ago that he would be hanging up his boots 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 that also included Frenchman Valentin Madouas, the young Dutchman, 23, first waited for his leader when the latter pulled away from the peloton to swallow up the escapees one by one.

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.