First yellow jersey of the 2024 Tour de France, Romain Bardet will have to return to battle this Sunday. Deprived of victory in Rimini, the favorites in the general classification could be tempted to make up for it on a tough course.
An epic in yellow. French cycling has not had the right to it since 2019. That year, Julian Alaphilippe had done even better than that by giving rise to the crazy hope of finally offering a successor to Bernard Hinault, the last French rider to have won the Tour de France, in 1985. Carried by an entire public won over to his cause, “Alaf” had taken to the game, to the point of dominating the race for fourteen days, including eleven in a row, before giving way three days from the finish on the Champs, to the benefit of the future winner Egan Bernal.
While it is too early to believe in a similar scenario this summer, Romain Bardet has at least earned the right to dream by winning the first stage of the 2024 Tour this Saturday, in the furnace of the Italian roads. Sure of his strength, and as if freed from a weight since he announced his retirement for 2025, the 33-year-old from Auvergne sublimated himself on the banks of the Adriatic to clinch the fourth victory of his career on the Grande Boucle, the first since 2017, and finally don this yellow jersey, a goal he has long pursued in vain.
A hearty menu from Sunday
“Hats off, I really thought we were going to catch them,” even greeted Tadej Pogacar, a fine player after having had to settle for the sprint for third place behind Bardet and his model teammate at DSM, the Dutchman Frank van den Broek. Since the plan worked so well between Florence and Rimini, the inevitable question now arises: Can Bardet be the hit of July? On paper, answering in the affirmative without an ounce of hesitation would amount to deluding oneself in view of the route and the casting lined up for this 111th edition.
“It will be complicated for Romain from this Sunday with a stage for strong guys between Cesenatico and Bologna. He will have to tackle the emblematic San Luca hill (1.9km at 10.6%) twice in the last 40 kilometres. It is really a hill for punchers, it does not correspond to Romain’s primary qualities”, warns Jérôme Coppel, 13th in the 2011 Tour. On this route which recalls “a classic like the Flèche Wallonne with the San Luca hill instead of the Mur de Huy”, our consultant imagines clients like Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic “launching hostilities with the bonus seconds to be won in mind”.
The hope of a new round of observation between favorites
With only 15 seconds ahead in the general classification over Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and the rest of the big fish of the Tour, Bardet will have to pull out all the stops again to stretch the dream in yellow. “It is not excluded that the favorites will look at each other again, especially since it will still be very hot. We expected a good fight on this first stage and it did not take place. And then Romain showed that he was in great shape”, continues Coppel, who imagines Bardet capable of hanging on until Tuesday and “perhaps even until the first time trial” on July 5.
On Tuesday, the day after a stage promised to the sprinters between Piacenza and Turin, the peloton will tackle the high mountains for the fifth day of racing. With an ultra-copious menu between Pinerolo and Valloire including the terrible Galibier and its 23km of climbing. “It’s the perfect playground for Pogacar’s UAE to test Vingegaard’s legs. But be careful, the finish will be downhill and we know that Romain has mastered the exercise”, positive Coppel.
“The batteries are empty”
The speech is rather divided on the side of our other consultant Cyrille Guimard: “I see him holding on until Valloire, but it is more the circumstances of the race than his level which will determine whether he keeps the jersey or not. And if he There is a real battle between favorites, it could be hard for Romain this Sunday.” “Mentally and physically, his batteries are drained after the day he has just experienced. He still spent a lot of energy during the stage but also after the race by undoubtedly answering dozens of interviews. “It’s not the best we do in terms of recovery,” said the ex-runner and team leader.
Far from these predictions, Bardet preferred to savor his magnificent number again and again. “It’s the first time I’ve smiled before the start of a Tour de France,” he said at the finish. “Not making the general takes enormous pressure off me. I’m finally myself, and running without ulterior motive is fabulous.” Perhaps the best recipe to continue writing your story.
Rodolphe Ryo, in Rimini (Italy)
