Romain Bardet first wearer of the yellow jersey

Romain Bardet has won the opening stage of the 111th Tour de France. The 33-year-old veteran from France won the 206-kilometer race between Florence and Rimini on Saturday, ahead of his young teammate Frank van den Broek from the Netherlands. Both crossed the finish line as breakaway riders, just a few seconds ahead of the main field. Belgian Wout van Aert came in third. Bardet took his fourth Tour victory.

After the first start of the three-week cycling tour in Italy, Bardet took over the yellow jersey of the overall leader. The first major exchange of blows between the top favorites Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard failed to materialize.

The pros had to overcome a challenging course and extreme heat right from the start. The 39-year-old sprint star Mark Cavendish fell significantly behind even before the first of the day’s seven climbs and struggled over most of the 3,600 meters of altitude. Cavendish was in danger of falling out of the time limit with a gap of more than 32 minutes to the leaders.

On the second day of the tour, the pros will start in Cesenatico on Sunday. The city is the birthplace of the Tour de France winner Marco Pantani, who died in 2004. The stage ends in Bologna after 199.2 kilometers and a few short but tough climbs. A breakaway rider with all-round qualities could win there. There may also be a first showdown between the favorites.