The Grand Depart of the Tour de France 2024 took place in Florence. The Dutch team dsm-firmenich PostNL landed a double victory in the 206-kilometre stage with six mountain classifications: 50 kilometres before the finish, Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) attacked out of the peloton. As no rider followed him, he tried to catch up with the breakaway alone. His team-mate Frank van den Broek, who was at the front of the race, then dropped off and led Bardet to the front. The two team-mates then pulled away from the competition. Thanks to outstanding teamwork by the two riders, they defended their lead over the onrushing peloton to the finish in Rimini. It is the first double victory in a Tour de France stage for Ineos Grenadiers since Michal Kwiatkowski and Richard Carapaz in 2020.
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Bardet takes advantage of disagreement in the chase
While the two riders from the dsm-firmenich PostNL team, Bardet and van den Broek, led the way, it took a long time for the peloton to agree on the chase. It was not until the final 15 kilometres that Bardet and van den Broek's lead was significantly reduced, but the chase by Visma | Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek and EF Education-EasyPost came too late. The top classification riders around Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) also showed little appetite for attacking on the 1st stage of the Tour de France, so that the coup of the dsm-firmenich PostNL team was deserved in the end.
"It's wonderful that it worked out like this. Not having to race for the overall classification takes a lot of pressure off me. Frank [van den Broek; editor's note] was really strong and pulled me over the last few kilometres. He has to get as much credit as I do." - Romain Bardet in the winner's interview
Tour de France 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 1
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) 5:07:22
- Frank van den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:00
- Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:05
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +0:05
- Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) +0:05
- Alex Aranburu (Movistar) +0:05
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +0:05
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:05
- Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:05
- Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) +0:05
Tour de France 2024: The current standings in the overall standings
- Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) 5:07:12
- Frank van den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:04
- Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:11
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) +0:15
- Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) +0:15
- Alex Aranburu (Movistar) +0:15
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +0:15
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:15
- Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:15
- Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) +0:15
How the 1st stage of the Tour de France 2024 went
After the Grand Depart in Florence, there were the first attacks immediately after the start of the race. Simon Geschke (Cofidis), among others, was active, but then failed to get into the leading group. After almost 20 kilometres of racing, seven riders around Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Frank van den Broek (Teams dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) broke away.
Abrahamsen closes the gap to the front
Team Uno-X Mobility in particular was unhappy with the constellation of the breakaway group and wanted to be at the front with all its might. Jonas Abrahamsen had to expend a lot of energy to catch up with them. The beneficiary of this manoeuvre was Ryan Gibbons (Lidl-Trek), who was swept to the front of the race in the slipstream of the Norwegian. Because Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) had problems at the foot of the first climb and dropped out of the leading group, it now consisted of eight riders.
The breakaway group quickly built up a lead of around six minutes, as no team in the peloton wanted to be responsible for the close-up lead. After EF Education-EasyPost took the lead shortly before the first mountain classification, the breakaway's lead narrowed again slightly.
Cavendish with big problems
Meanwhile, all alarm bells were ringing for the Astana Qazaqstan Team and Mark Cavendish: The sprinter had already lost touch with the peloton on the first climb and was visibly struggling to keep up with the field. Four team-mates immediately took care of the sprinter. The team managed with difficulty to prevent Cavendish from dropping out early.
UAE takes over on the Cote de Barbotto
The race then picked up speed again on the Cote de Barbotto. Several riders at the front had to let go: Only Madouas, van den Broek, Gibbons, Mohoric and Abrahamsen were now in front. The latter won the mountain classification and took the mountain jersey for stage 2. Behind them, UAE Team Emirates took command of the peloton on the climb. With Pavel Sivakov stepping up the pace, the peloton thinned out considerably. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Lenny Martinez and David Gaudu (both Groupama-FDJ), among others, lost the connection. With 65 kilometres to go, the breakaway only had a lead of just over two minutes.
Bardet attacks
With 50 kilometres to go, Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) attacked out of the peloton and, with the help of team-mate Frank van den Broek, quickly caught up with the front of the race. Van den Broek and Bardet quickly distanced the remaining leading group and were the hunted from then on. They harmonised magnificently, and with 20 kilometres to go the two riders still had a lead of one and a half minutes. Once again, there was disagreement about the chase in the peloton.
It was not until 15 kilometres before the finish that the peloton began to work in harmony in the chase. Although the gap to Bardet and van den Broek quickly diminished, in the end it was not enough for the peloton to catch the breakaway. Behind the two stage winners Bardet and van den Broek, Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) won the final sprint and snatched third place. It is the first yellow jersey for a Frenchman in the Tour de France since Julian Alaphilippe in 2021.
