Romain Bardet first leader of the Tour de France 2024 in an agonizing finish

The Tour de France 2024 could not have started in a more exciting way despite there being no battle among the favorites for the general classification. A high-quality breakaway, the brave attack of Romain Bardet in the last third of the race, and an agonizing pursuit by the peloton, which this time favored the escapees, added excitement to a beautiful first stage.

Bardet starts his last Tour de France in yellow

He had announced that this would be his last Tour de France, that he will retire at the end of the season, and things could not have started better for Romain Bardet, one of the best French riders of recent years who gave us an exciting first stage of the Tour de France 2024.

The race started in the beautiful Florence, with a long neutralized route that allowed us to enjoy, even from a distance, the architectural gems that the capital of Tuscany treasures. The race headed east, towards the Adriatic coast, aiming for the coastal city of Rimini in a stage of 206 kilometers and a whopping 3,600 meters of accumulated elevation gain with 7 categorized climbs scattered along a truly challenging route.

A route that also served as a tribute to the legendary Marco Pantani, who, let's not forget, was the last to achieve the Giro-Tour double that Tadej Pogacar is now pursuing, with the race passing through the usual training roads of the brave Italian climber.

As expected, as the neutralized route ended, the attacks to form a breakaway began, the kind that can actually succeed, making it very difficult for the more modest cyclists since, on such tough stages, only high-quality cyclists are able to make the right move.

It took almost 20 kilometers for the day's breakaway to form, consisting of 7 cyclists with names like Valentin Madouas, Ion Izagirre, or Frank van den Broek as the most prominent riders. However, the attention in this first part of the stage focused on the British rider Mark Cavendish, who was dropped on the ascent to the first climb along with several teammates from Astana who stayed back to help avoid a total disaster.

The Manx rider showed clear signs of illness, affected by heatstroke on a scorching day in Italian lands or some similar issue, as he was even seen vomiting on his bike in television images. In any case, despite losing contact early on, the time limit in such a long stage would be generous and ultimately would not pose any problem for Cavendish. Along the way, his teammate Gazzoli would abandon, hinting at some general health issue in the team that will need to be confirmed in the coming days.

The stage was progressing more or less calmly until, reaching the third climb of the day and the beginning of the last third of the race where the remaining climbs would follow one after another without much respite, UAE Team Emirates took the lead, leaving the peloton completely shattered. This also had an effect on the breakaway, which was forced to accelerate, leading to the usual natural selection.

With this race situation, as the next climb began, Romain Bardet launched his attack. He quickly closed the gap of almost two minutes with the breakaway, just enough to catch up with his teammate Frank van den Broek, who had dropped from the front, where Madouas and Uno-X's Jonas Abrahamsen were still holding on. The Dutchman and the Frenchman from DSM-Firmenich-PostNL quickly caught up, and after a skillful descent, they reached the front at the start of the penultimate climb.

Meanwhile, UAE Team Emirates disappeared from the front, and it was Visma-Lease a Bike who took charge, although at a pace that was nothing like the one set by the Emiratis on the previous climb. In fact, the proof was how easily Bardet managed to attack and, a little further back, Ben Healy tried to emulate him but ended up caught in between and returned to the group.

On the last climb, we discovered why UAE Team Emirates had disappeared from the front when Juan Ayuso was seen struggling at the back of the peloton. Meanwhile, Visma-Lease a Bike continued to set the pace, allowing many riders to catch back up, including Mads Pedersen, who had a golden opportunity to win the stage, as long as they could close the gap between Bardet and Van den Broek, who had been left alone at the front due to the selection in the breakaway during the last climb to San Marino.

However, after descending this final difficulty, they had 20 completely flat kilometers ahead with a 2-minute advantage over the peloton and with a nearly complete Lidl-Trek team. An agonizing pursuit began, which under normal circumstances would have thwarted the chances of the escapees. But today, the toughness of the stage took its toll on everyone, a situation where the strengths of the escapees and the peloton were equal.

The time gaps narrowed, and in the last kilometers, they seemed to be caught. But the two riders from DSM-Firmenich-PostNL did not give up and managed to cross the finish line, with Romain Bardet in the lead, practically feeling the breath of the peloton on his neck in a finish that did justice to the brave move of the Dutch team's cyclists.

Stage 1 Classification

1. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) 5h07'22''
2. Frank van den Broek (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +00''
3. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) +5''
4. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +5''
5. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) +5''
6. Alex Aranburu (Movistar) +5''
7. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +5''
8. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +5''
9. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +5''
10. Alberto Betiol (EF Education-EasyPost) +5''

General Classification

1. Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) 5h07'22''
2. Frank van den Broek (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) +4''
3. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) +11''
4. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +15''
5. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) +15''
6. Alex Aranburu (Movistar) +15''
7. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +15''
8. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +15''
9. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +15''
10. Alberto Betiol (EF Education-EasyPost) +15''