Stage 1 - Data of the day
1932 : A HISTORIC 1-2
The last time two riders from the same team went 1st and 2nd in a Tour de France stage dates back to 2022, when Wout van Aert won the time-trial in Rocamadour ahead of Jonas Vingegaard. Excluding ITTs, Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory ahead of Michael Morkov in Carcassonne, in 2021. But if we consider two riders from the same team distancing the rest of the field in the opening stage… Team dsm-firmenich PostNL emulate Jean Aerts and Joseph Demuysere, at the helm of the Belgian team in 1932!
196 : BARDET, FINALLY IN YELLOW!
Participating in the Tour de France for the 11th and last time, Romain Bardet was yet to find an opening for the Maillot Jaune. The Frenchman has started 196 stages in the Tour… And he’s finished 20 of them in the GC top-3. Finally, at 33 years and 232 days, he takes yellow.
3 : BARDET, LIKE ALAPHILIPPE
A Frenchman in yellow after the first stage - Romain Bardet replicates Julian Alaphilippe’s feat from three years ago, when he powered to victory in Landerneau. Alaphilippe lost the jersey to Mathieu van der Poel on day 2. How far will Bardet go?
800 : BARDET’S DROUGHT IS OVER
Today should have marked Romain Bardet’s 800th day without a victory… But the Frenchman found an Italian opening, in the same country where he had claimed his last win to date, the overall standings of the Tour of the Alps 2022. This is his 4th stage win in the Tour, 6 years, 11 months and 16 days after the last one, in Peyragudes (stage 12 of the Tour 2017).
79.8 : A SPEEDY RUN TO VICTORY
With a gap of 1’40’’ atop the final climb of the day (Côte de San Marino, 26.3km to go), Romain Bardet and Frank van den Broek still had a long way to resist the chasers. According to the NTT Data trackers, they hit a maximum speed of 79.8 km/h on the downhill and maintained an average of 53.0 km/h in the final 30 kilometres! Barely enough to maintain a gap of 5’’ on the line…
1 : A NEW LEADER FOR THE YOUTH
Participating in his first Tour de France at 23 years old, Frank van den Broek already leaves a mark as the leader of the best young rider standings. The last rider not named Tadej Pogacar who stepped on the podium to receive the Maillot Blanc Krys was Egan Bernal, on 12 September 2020. Since then, the Slovenian star had accumulated 72 white jerseys in a row (for a total collection of 75 jerseys). But he’s now too old to be part of the best young rider competition… A new era begins!
10 : SEE YOU IN A DECADE?
Romain Bardet’s first podium position in the overall standings dates back to 2014 (after stage 13). As for the last time Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL claimed the Maillot Jaune, it was thanks to Marcel Kittel, in 2014 as well. At the time, the team was named Giant-Shimano. And they already succeeded in stage 1, in Harrogate.
3 : ABRAHAMSEN, NORWAY’S PRIDE
With 13 points, Jonas Abrahamsen is the first Norwegian rider to lead the KOM standings in the history of the Tour. According to the NTT Data trackers, he averaged 23.0 km/h across the 7 categorised climbs of the day. He already went first at Col de Morga last year in stage 1 of the Tour 2023. Abrahamsen is the third Norwegian to lead a standing in the Tour de France after Thor Hushovd and Alexander Kristoff,
99.5 : AN UNFORTUNATE FIRST
Participating in the Tour for the first time in his career, Michele Gazzoli (Astana Qazaqstan) was forced to step off his bike just before the 100-km mark. An early straggler alongside his leader Mark Cavendish, the young Italian (25 years old) is the first debutant to withdraw from the race on the first day of action since Hervé Duclos-Lassalle in 2008. The Frenchman rode a similar distance before crashing out of the race with a broken wrist.
2020-2024 : RIMINI, A FRENCH PROVINCE?
The last two winners in Rimini are French, as Romain Bardet succeeds Arnaud Démare, who sprinted to victory on the seaside during the Giro 2020. 60 years earlier, Louison Bobet won stage 5 of Roma-Napoli-Roma in Rimini.
