Romain Bardet claimed the first yellow jersey of this year’s Tour de France, and the first of his career, with a bold move on the opening stage. The Frenchman, who announced his retirement for June next year and is a two-time Tour podium finisher, attacked 50 kilometers from the finish line, benefiting from selfless work by his DSM–Firmenich PostNL teammate Frank van den Broek. Bardet crossed the line five seconds ahead of Belgium’s Wout van Aert.
Van den Broek, who finished second with the same time as his team leader, expressed disbelief and joy. “I can’t believe it, it wasn’t premeditated at all, I wanted to take the morning breakaway. There was no stress, we wanted someone up front and it was Frank who took off,” Bardet explained. “I could see that it was going to be difficult in the heat and when I saw that we were just a minute from the breakaway rider, I said to myself that I could close the gap. 🏆 🇫🇷 wins in Rimini! It’s a masterpiece! 🏆🇫🇷 s’impose à Rimini ! Chef d’oeuvre de l’équipe ! “Frank has done an incredible job and this jersey is a shared one. I’d had this stage in the back of my mind for a very long time. I’m very lucky because in the team we’ve written off the general classification, giving me the freedom to ride without pressure.”
Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, who had not raced since sustaining a collapsed lung on the Tour of the Basque Country in April, finished safely in the bunch alongside fellow favorite Tadej Pogacar. A seven-man breakaway formed early in the race. With 50 kilometers remaining, only France’s Valentin Madouas and Jonas Abrahamsen of Norway were left at the front. Bardet attacked from a slimmed-down peloton and joined the fugitives after picking up his teammate Van den Broek.
The duo dropped Abrahamsen and then Madouas in the penultimate climb. Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish, seeking a record-breaking 35th stage win, lost ground after failing to maintain the pace early on. Ireland’s Ben Healy attempted a solo breakaway from the bunch but couldn’t close the gap as Bardet and Van den Broek opened a two-minute lead, which they maintained going into the final descent towards Rimini.
The EF-Education First team, hoping for a stage win with Italian champion Alberto Bettiol, and the Ineos-Grenadiers increased the pace of the peloton but couldn’t significantly reduce Bardet and Van den Broek’s lead. That was until Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek, aiming to set up Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen for the win, respectively, started pulling in front of the bunch. The gap dropped to under a minute with 11 kilometers left and to 14 seconds two kilometers from the finish line as they hit the streets of Rimini.
Van den Broek then rode himself into the ground to make sure Bardet would take his fourth stage win on the Tour. Sunday’s second stage is a 199.2km ride from Cesenatico, the home town of the late Marco Pantani, to Bologna.
