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2024 Tour de France: Romain Bardet wins Stage 1, full race results
By Carrie McDonald , USA TODAY,
22 hours ago
Bold racing from France’s Romain Bardet and the Netherlands’ Frank van den Broek paid off as the pair got their storybrook ending to win Stage 1 of the 111th edition of the Tour de France on Saturday.
In his final year before retirement, Bardet will finally wear the coveted yellow jersey. Bardet had previously won three Tour de France stages from 2015-2017, but this opening stage win will surely be the sweetest.
After his win, Bardet told the media that the yellow jersey was the last goal of his decade-long career.
“I’m finally myself, I’m at a loss for words,” Bardet said .
Bardet was joined at the finish line by teammate van den Broek, who helped the team leader all the way to the finish line, highlighting the importance of teamwork throughout the 21-stage race.
Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL team's French rider Romain Bardet (R) cycles to the finish line ahead of Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL team's Belgian rider Frank Van Den Broek (L) to win the 1st stage of the 111th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 206 km between Florence and Rimini, in Italy, on June 29, 2024. THOMAS SAMSON, AFP via Getty Images
Stage 1 of the 2024 Tour de France featured an unprecedented Grand Départ in Italy to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ottavio Bottecchia's historic 1924 victory as the first Italian to win the Tour. Riders completed a challenging 205 km (128 miles) hilly route with seven categorized climbs and over 3,600m (11,800 feet) in elevation gain. Originating in Florence, Italy, cyclists rode through San Marino and the Apennine mountain range to reach the Italian city of Rimini on the Adriatic coast.
Bardet and van den Broek broke away from the peloton with approximately 40km to go. Although the field faced a strong headwind down the flat road into Rimini, the pair managed to withstand an encroaching peloton armed with the field’s best sprinters with just a few meters to spare.
A group of the best climbers broke away for most of the race, but Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen did enough to earn the King of the Mountains classification and will wear the polka-dotted jersey used to recognize the best climber.
Temperatures over 90 added to the difficulty of this stage and team Astana Qazaqstan paid a heavy price. Team leader Mark Cavendish appeared to struggle with heat-related issues and dropped from the peloton early on. His teammate, Michele Gazzoli of Italy, who also seemed affected by the heat, became the first man to withdraw from the race.
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, the favorite to win the 2024 Tour de France, set himself up well with a fourth-place finish, while Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard proved he is certainly healthy enough to be in the mix as he pursues a three-peat after sustaining serious injuries in a crash in April.
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