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

[red_flanders]

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

Was just gonna post the same. Wild.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Did any riders of note miss the time cut?

 

[Tim Cahill]

Cavendish makes it on what must've been one of his blackest days on a bike. Thought he was a gonner myself.

 

[Boehmand]

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.

One thing people tend to forget this Tour is, that we hit Galibier already on stage 4.

It naturally means the GC teams will be more measured in their efforts the first 3 days - although we may see fireworks on San Luca tomorrow, because it is close to the finish.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Did any riders of note miss the time cut?

Riders are still on the road but all should make it.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Strong ride by VDB, nice they made it, even if they got some help.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Lenny M and David G losing +30 minutes. Lmao FDJ

 

[cen]

Peloton forgot to add the french motopacing treshold into their calculations.. a rookie mistake. Still, kudos to the winners, deserved.

 

[Breezy1985]

DSM better absolutely yellow the s**t out of Bardet's gear tomorrow.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Ben Healy thinks he's Marshall Mathers apparently.

I liked his long, wavy hair better, it looked cooler than this bleached stuff.

 

[MartinGT]

Cavendish makes it on what must've been one of his blackest days on a bike. Thought he was a gonner myself.

Saw a video of him throwing up on a descent

 

[Breezy1985]

Peoloton forgot to add the french motopacing treshold into their calculations.. a rookie mistake. Still, kudos to the winners, deserved.

Van den Broek was amazing but I would go as far as to call him a motorbike.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Saw a video of him throwing up on a descent

Yeah quite a few times, I think he drank too much water following heatstroke, that was 200km ago so it wasn't looking good.

 

[titan31]

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.

I wouldn't call it a long distance solo attack as he was solo for only 2-3 km at best. VDB dropped back pretty immediately and then looked stronger the whole way imo.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Lenny M and David G losing +30 minutes. Lmao FDJ

Buitrago on the other hand was able to come back and stay in the bunch because the tempo dropped when Visma bluffed their way to the front and UAE got a bit scared when Ayuso was about to drop and they had no workers left. I wonder if Buitrago just had an offday, perhaps needing some time to find his rhythm after last weeks training blocks, or whether he will get dropped again in the next days when the race gets hard.

 

[Boehmand]

Business tip for Mørkøv.

After nursing Jakobsen last year and Cavendish this year, he should start a babysitting business when the career is over.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

One thing people tend to forget this Tour is, that we hit Galibier already on stage 4.

It naturally means the GC teams will be more measured in their efforts the first 3 days - although we may see fireworks on San Luca tomorrow, because it is close to the finish.

I think the GC teams were reasonable today. UAE tested the waters a bit to see if they could do some damage, they got rid of a few pretenders or highlighted which riders' domestiques will be vulnerable and so which contenders can be isolated, but they didn't do enough damage to persist. The 2020 stage I brought up, nobody even had a go at pacing, they all just agreed that nobody would be dropped, so the pace just kept on slackening.

The fact this was not an MTF helped because the fact a few not-quite-sprinters-but-fast-finishers were still there gave impetus to the chase, otherwise you'd think they might have just let DSM carry on to their heart's content and only chased enough to not have to worry about Bardet later, whereas with some fast finishers still in the group (plus EF playing spoiler) there was still motivation to catch the break - but the teams with the most motivation to catch the break didn't have the most numbers, so it was still in the balance.

As I say, I don't think we could have reasonably have asked for much more today, and tomorrow will be where we see the GC men test the waters a bit because San Luca is steep enough and close enough to the finish to be worth opening some gaps on. No time is a bad time to gain time.

 

[AnotherArmChair]

Today was very hard....going to be a very hard Tour and if you are not 100% or over your best there may be surprises

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Was just gonna post the same. Wild.

I was gonna say 14, but whatevs.

 

[Oldermanish]

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

...and, if he hadn't come up to the break it would've been absorbed. VDB was strong but Bardet's descending assistance was one of the key differences in maintaining that gap.
Listening to guys like Powless who made alot of pace in the last kms the peleton was pretty "cooked". The GC guys wanted to save their powder for the days to come and it showed.

UAE dropping off tempo to keep Ayuso in touch was another circumstance helping Bardet and VDB's excellent Adventure. JV took over and backed pace way down to the summit. Those little things meant 5 seconds!

 

[AstralVelo]

I wouldn't call it a long distance solo attack as he was solo for only 2-3 km at best. VDB dropped back pretty immediately and then looked stronger the whole way imo.

Nah, Bardet paced all the remaining climbs bottom to top, it was a team effort.

 

[titan31]

Could be interesting tomorrow if it's as hot. Harder day and more likely got GC attacks so could get some decent gaps

 

[Boehmand]

I think the GC teams were reasonable today. UAE tested the waters a bit to see if they could do some damage, they got rid of a few pretenders or highlighted which riders' domestiques will be vulnerable and so which contenders can be isolated, but they didn't do enough damage to persist. The 2020 stage I brought up, nobody even had a go at pacing, they all just agreed that nobody would be dropped, so the pace just kept on slackening.

The fact this was not an MTF helped because the fact a few not-quite-sprinters-but-fast-finishers were still there gave impetus to the chase, otherwise you'd think they might have just let DSM carry on to their heart's content and only chased enough to not have to worry about Bardet later, whereas with some fast finishers still in the group (plus EF playing spoiler) there was still motivation to catch the break - but the teams with the most motivation to catch the break didn't have the most numbers, so it was still in the balance.

As I say, I don't think we could have reasonably have asked for much more today, and tomorrow will be where we see the GC men test the waters a bit because San Luca is steep enough and close enough to the finish to be worth opening some gaps on. No time is a bad time to gain time.

Or - you could have just written "I agree"

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

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

No troubles in giving in here

 

[rallybanana]

Lenny M and David G losing +30 minutes. Lmao FDJ

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