Tour de France Tour de France 2024, Stage 1: Florence (Firenze) - Rimini, 206.0k

[SorelyBoy]

That was a rather nice start to things. Fantastically exciting, and beautiful to see Bardet winning, with an awesome performance by his team mate Van den Brouk. Van Aert did a smart job to close out third and prevent Pogacar from getting bonus seconds.

 

[Salvarani]

All in all a really enjoyable first stage. No big crashes, UAE testing Visma, very weirdly timed attack that actually manages to make it.
And Bardet in yellow. What's not to love?

Dito.

 

[Sciatic]

Made a huge difference that it was two teammates up front.

Absolutely. Also made a difference that it wasn’t full-sized sprinter teams who usually make up massive ground on the break in the last 1-2 km.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

It's a shame Van den Brouk didn't win the stage.

That would've been the REAL fairytale!

 

[Gigs_98]

In other news, the big GC teams had the following number of riders in the front group:

UAE 5
Visma 4
Bora 3
Soudal 3
Ineos 6

Damn, can't believe UAE only had one helper left...

 

[Boehmand]

That would've been the REAL fairytale!

He's in white, he's in green and he wins the prize as most combative - let's not feel TOO sorry for him

 

[Unchained]

Definitely one of the oddest stage 1’s I’ve ever watched.

I woke up at 4am, I have been trying to stay awake, last hour of the race had my pulse at 200bpm!!!
Great race!! Great design!! Great weather!! Great camera work and the finish in better than anything Hollywood!!!
Italy really out did themselves.. Absolutely perfect in every way!!

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

He's in white, he's in green and he wins the prize as most combative - let's not feel TOO sorry for him

White, green, prix de combativitée, stage win and yellow.
He deserved everything today.

 

[Unchained]

Damn, can't believe UAE only had one helper left...

Ayuso showed some serious cracks today,

 

[Ripper]

Other not so hot takes:

• Gaudu - not sure if he has given up the ghost or what this year, but not really showing any cred for GTs anymore, is he? But, will he whine a whole bunch too?
• WvA sandbagging the crap in the pre-tour press. Predictable? Yes. But still, the worst shape ever? Come on. But, he played his part (stealing seconds)
• Cav is gutsy, that's for sure!
• UAE, LAB and INEOS looked not under any pressure.

 

[Netserk]

A shame that they haven't returned to the rider getting the jersey put on while on the podium. It looked so much cooler than having it done backstage.

 

[Boehmand]

White, green, prix de combativitée, stage win and yellow.
He deserved everything today.

But, Bardet "deserved" it a little more... because he is Bardet, riding his last Tour, having never been in yellow before

 

[Tim Cahill]

 

[Sciatic]

It's been such a long time...

That was such an incredible win. Today was big cause getting yellow is special, but can’t top the puissance of that MTF finish win.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I guess a lot of people dont really understand the sport and racing tactics is what we can conclude.

UAE paced the hardest climb to see what would happen. Then didnt see any reason to continue after that. Still the effort of todays stage could be felt tomorrow or later in the week.

I think a lot of riders will say it was a hard day.

This stage was never gonna create fireworks or the Vino option and criticize any team today would be dumb.

It was a very good first stage imo and great start of the race with Bardet winning. Getting to ride in yellow for the first time, I believe. Awesome.

I think tomorrow could be more fun but we will have to see.

I think tomorrow is more conducive to racing too and I don't think we could have realistically asked for much more out of today.

The 2020 example got more up people's noses (and mine in particular) because not only was the spectacle an absolute embarrassment, but riders were out there claiming that it was a hard day when they'd demonstrably not put in any effort whatsoever (and in fairness to that Sepp Kuss interview that started it all, at least he wasn't claiming to have worked hard, or in fact, at all, that day).

Nowadays we're kind of used to riders phoning it in and then telling us what a hard day's work they've done so it seems kinda quaint, but at the time - especially as we'd been starved of racing all year long - it rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

23 mins left, 85 riders still on the road, says le Tour's tracker

 

[RobertCrawley]

All in all a really enjoyable first stage. No big crashes, UAE testing Visma, very weirdly timed attack that actually manages to make it.
And Bardet in yellow. What's not to love?

Yeah, I thought the peloton was going to crank it up at 15k. Instead, they cranked it up at 12.7k and it probably cost the sprinters.

But Bardet. Man, what a great result. What a day.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Uran, Aru, Daniel Martin, Landa.

With Aru taking the jersey from Froome.

 

[RobertCrawley]

I woke up at 4am, I have been trying to stay awake, last hour of the race had my pulse at 200bpm!!!
Great race!! Great design!! Great weather!! Great camera work and the finish in better than anything Hollywood!!!
Italy really out did themselves.. Absolutely perfect in every way!!

4 am here too! Well worth it!

 

[Tim Cahill]

Ben Healy thinks he's Marshall Mathers apparently.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yeah, I thought the peloton was going to crank it up at 15k. Instead, they cranked it up at 12.7k and it probably cost the sprinters.

But Bardet. Man, what a great result. What a day.

I think the problem is too few teams had enough numbers to commit that early and still have men left to lead out. They made big inroads into the duo quickly but then it hovered for quite a while as there wasn't 100% commitment to the chase, I think because teams didn't want to commit to a full chase and then run out of leadouts with 3-4k still to go.

 

[Danskebjerge]

The simple solution is to film both attackers and chasers from the front. Easier to make it even like that than by minimising the drafting.

I see you point, but is it simple? I would say it was easier to make clear before the race that motorbikes right in front of the riders are not allowed within the last x kilometres.

The camera motorbikes don’t place themselves there by accident.

 

[red_flanders]

Nice to see the French get a win and the Maillot Juane on day 1. And Bardet seems very likeable.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Van den Broek looks like he's 13 years old.

 

[Sciatic]

It's a shame Van den Brouk didn't win the stage.

I don’t quite get that. VDB was monstrous. But so was Bardet’s long distance solo attack that set up the duo with the chance at a win. Neither could win it without the other.