Two-time podium finisher Romain Bardet gained the opening stage of the Tour de France and claimed the yellow jersey on Saturday, June 29, as biking’s greatest race started in Italy for the primary time. Mixed with extreme warmth, one of the difficult opening legs in current reminiscence created issues for Mark Cavendish and lots of different riders.
Tadej Pogacar, who’s aiming to observe up his Giro d’Italia title with a 3rd Tour trophy, and two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard each completed safely in the primary pack, although.
Vingegaard’s efficiency was particularly encouraging, contemplating he was hospitalized for practically two weeks in April following a high-speed crash within the Tour of the Basque Nation. He sustained a damaged collarbone and ribs and a collapsed lung and had not raced since.
Bardet, the Frenchman who completed second in 2016 and third in 2017 and is racing his final Tour, attacked with barely greater than 50 kilometers to go. He caught up along with his DSM-Firmenich PostNL teammate Frank van den Broek, who was in an early breakaway, and the pair simply barely held off the onrushing peloton within the flat end. Bardet surged forward of his teammate on the line and pointed to him to say, “Thanks.” It was Bardet’s fourth profession stage win within the Tour, and first since 2017.
The 206-kilometer route from Florence to the Adriatic coastal resort of Rimini featured seven categorized climbs and greater than 3,600 meters (11,800 ft) of ascending. The temperature soared to 36ºC. Cavendish vomited twice and dropped far behind on the very first climb, placing in danger his pursuit of breaking a tie with Eddy Merckx for essentially the most profession stage wins within the Tour.