Tour de France Stage Report: A Frenchman takes the first stage and yellow jersey of the 2024 Tour de France in Italy. The dsm-firmenich-PostNL team played their tactics perfectly on stage 1. The Dutch team sent young Frank van den Broek in the break and then Romain Bardet crossed to him and they held off the bunch to the finish in Rimini. He also took the yellow jersey.
The final kilometre
Romain Bardet and Frank van den Broek pulled off a great coup for their dsm.firmenich-PostNL team in the Italian opening stage of the 2024 Tour de France. At the end of the 206 kilometre stage from Florence to Rimini, Bardet was the first to cross the finish line to also take the first yellow jersey. Young Frank van den Broek rode with Bardet to hold off the peloton after a day in the break. Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) won the sprint from what was left of the bunch for third place.
A dream result for Romain Bardet, his team and France
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France general director: “It’s rare for the Tour de France to start with more than 3,600 metres of climbing – in fact it’s never happened before! – and it’s also the first time that the race has visited the home city of Gino Bartali. The succession of hills in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna are likely to be the setting for an immediate and testing confrontation between the contenders for the title, particularly the climb into San Marino (7.1km at 4.8%), where the race will add a 13th name to its catalogue of foreign visits.”
Stage 1 profile
The World champion and his Alpecin-Deceuninck team at the start
After a long neutralised section, the Tour got underway just before 1pm. A lot of riders wanted to be in the day’s escape, so there was a big battle. UAE Team Emirates didn’t want to let any groups go. After around 20 kilometres, seven riders were successful, with Frank van den Broek (dsm-firmenich-PostNL). Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Clément Champoussin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Sandy Dujardin and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies).
Mark Cavendish had a long, hard day in front of him
Prince of Monaco, Alberto, at the start to see his nieghbourgph Tadej Pogačar off
Gianni Vermeersch tried to join them and Uno-X Mobility also missed the move. The Norwegian team then had several riders on the attack. In the end it was Jonas Abrahamsen who managed to cross with Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek), on the first climb of the day. It was too fast for Vercher, who was dropped. Izagirre sprinted for the first KOM points, 5 minutes ahead of the peloton.
Van Aert, Roglič and Evenepoel at the start
Stage 1 of the 2024 Tour de France kicked off from Florence
EF Education-EasyPost then took control. The pace put the sprinters in trouble, Mark Cavendish was the biggest victim. He seemed to be in trouble due to the heat and was sick while riding and needed all the help from his team as he had already lost 4 minutes by that point. That difference only increased. Fabio Jakobsen and Jonas Rickaert were also in trouble, they dropped back to the Cavendish group halfway through the stage.
The peloton crossing the Ponte Vecchio in Florence
The peloton leaves Firenze for Rimini (206km)
At the front; Abrahamsen won the second KOM sprint and Dujardin took the intermediate sprint. Jasper Philipsen took the most points of the sprinters in the peloton, ahead of Mads Pedersen and Sam Bennett. A little later, Dujardin and Champoussin broke away from the leading group, because the pace increased on the Côte de Carnaio (10.5km at 4.6%). The peloton was now only 3 minutes behind, but they eased off again. Wilco Kelderman was able to come back from a crash, where he hurt his shoulder and arm.
Cavendish was in trouble
The real action started with 75 kilometres to go, as there were four tough climbs within 40 kilometres. The leads started the final with more than 4 minutes, while EF set the pace in the peloton. GC teams with plans had to try something on the tough Barbotto; UAE Team Emirates put the pressure on and David Gaudu, Lenny Martinez, Kévin Vauquelin, Paul Lapeira, Arnaud De Lie, Stephen Williams and Michael Matthews were all dropped.
The break of the day
Just before the summit, it was too fast for World champion Mathieu van der Poel, something he said would probably happen. Mads Pedersen, Santiago Buitrago and Louis Meintjes also had problems, but were able to rejoin. Vingegaard’s Visma men then set the pace on the San Leo and the first attack came from Romain Bardet, who, with the help of a strong Van den Broek, crossed to Madouas and Abrahamsen.
Uno-X Mobility wanted to be part of the action
The pace was too much for the Norwegian and Madouas was also dropped by the dsm duo, Bardet and Van den Broek. In the peloton there was an attack by Ben Healy on the Montemaggio. Visma | Lease a Bike chased, while UAE Team Emirates held back, probably because Juan Ayuso wasn’t looking too good at that moment. Healy had 1 minute on the peloton and tried to join the leaders on the Côte de San Marino.
South African champion, Gibbons Ryan (Lidl-Trek), leading the break
That didn’t happen and at the top, Bardet and Van den Broek had extended their lead on Healy to 1:25. The peloton soon caught the Irishman as INEOS Grenadiers, Lidl-Trek started a hard chase. They obviously saw opportunities for their fast men, Pedersen had survived the climbs. They had about 20 kilometres to close one and a half minutes. Van Aert also put his riders on the front of the thinned out peloton of about 50 men.
The peloton wasn’t at full gas
At 10 kilometres from the finish, the two leaders only had under 50 seconds, but then the peloton couldn’t get closer than 35 seconds, mainly thanks to the work of Van den Broek. It was all hands on deck for the peloton, because 2 kilometres from the finish the gap was still 15 seconds. Van den Broek was the first into the final kilometre and was pushing hard on the pedals. With 200 metres to go, you could see that the peloton had left it too late.
UAE closed the gap down to just over 1 minute, but didn’t keep it going
Bardet, who recently announced that he would retire in June 2025, took over to take the victory ahead of his Dutch teammate. The peloton was at 5 seconds and led by Van Aert, ahead of Tadej Pogačar and Maxim Van Gils in the sprint. Remco Evenepoel finished eighth.
A two-man race to Rimini
In the general classification, Bardet leads, 4 seconds ahead of Van den Broek and 11 seconds ahead of Van Aert. The rest of the peloton follows at 15 seconds. Van den Broek won the green jersey and the white jersey in addition to the Prize for most aggressive rider.
The made it by 5 seconds
Stage winner and overall leader, Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich-PostNL): “In cycling there are still unexpected moments, it’s sublime. I came to this Tour de France with a different state of mind. I went on instinct when I attacked. I saw a lot of riders suffering and I knew I could count on Frank who was in front. I had the intuition that it was time to take the jump. At worst I would lose 20 minutes if it didn’t work, but I’m no longer here to fight for GC. Over the last kilometres it was crazy, there was a headwind, we were going 48 miles an hour… I would never have allowed myself to dream of such a scenario. But I knew Frank is an excellent rider, no other combination could have worked as well. And he deserves this victory as much as I do. The Yellow Jersey was one of my career dreams to wear it for at least one day. I had missed it a bit, but finally it has happened as I took things differently. I can finally show the real me. I rode as if it wasn’t the Tour de France.”
A top day for dsm, except the team bus broke down on the way to the stage finish
# Stay PEZ for every Tour stage. #
Tour de France Stage 1 Result:
1. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL in 5:43:50
2. Frank Van Den Broek (Ned) dsm-firmenich-PostNL
3. Wout Van Aert (Bel) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:05
4. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
5. Maxim Van Gils (Bel) Lotto Dstny
6. Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Movistar
7. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek
8. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
9. Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
10. Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education-EasyPost.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 1:
1. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL in 5:43:50
2. Frank Van Den Broek (Ned) dsm-firmenich-PostNL at 0:04
3. Wout Van Aert (Bel) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:11
4. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates at 0:15
5. Maxim Van Gils (Bel) Lotto Dstny
6. Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Movistar
7. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek
8. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
9. Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
10. Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education-EasyPost.
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