Tour de France 2024, Bardet wins the 1st stage from Florence to Rimini

Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) won the first stage of the 2024 Tour de France, which started for the first time in Italy, from Florence, and took the yellow jersey as leader of the classification. At the finish line in Rimini, after 206 kilometers of racing, the Frenchman preceded his teammate Frank Van den Broek, outwitting the group that was aiming for the sprint by a few seconds. The Frenchman had never worn the yellow jersey in his career and succeeded in doing so in the first stage of what will be his last participation. Thanks to the help of his teammate, he managed to complete the feat, preceding the attacking group by just five seconds, with the sprint being won by Wout Van Aert ahead of Tadej Pogacar. Tenth place for the Italian Alberto Bettiol. The Grande Boucle this year has a very particular route (also due to the concomitance of the Olympics in France): it will arrive after 21 stages with an individual time trial in Nice (an unprecedented finale compared to the classic parade in Paris). It will pass through Bologna, Turin, the Galibier, the Massif Central, the Pyrenees, Monte-Carlo and Cime de la Bonnette. It is the first time, in 111 editions, that the Tour de France starts from our country: it does so with the initial three and a half stages that wind through Tuscany, Emilia Romagna and Piedmont.

Bardet: “The yellow jersey is the dream of my career”

“A dream finish. It was one of the goals of my career to wear the yellow jersey one day,” Romain Bardet told the microphones of Eurosport after the victory. “It’s the first time – added the Frenchman – that I started the Tour smiling and not consumed by the pressure. I knew I had to suffer, I knew the last climbs well, I had nothing to lose. I felt good today. I have no words, at the At the end we even had the wind against us. It was incredible.”

The first step

The Grand Départ, the first stage of the 2024 Tour de France, started from Florence. The section that ended in Rimini after 7 challenging climbs was 206 km long. The Tour paid homage to Gino Bartali, crossing the symbolic places of one of the greatest cyclists of all time. The scenic roads of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines were traveled, until reaching the beaches of the Adriatic. The Apennine crossing offered 3,800 m of positive altitude difference, between the rather undulating Valico Tre Faggi pass and some steep climbs. The last of which is in the heart of the Republic of San Marino, just outside the finish line.

The route to the start

The caravan left from the Villaggio alle Cascine around 12 in non-competitive mode and reached Piazza Signoria, where it stopped for an institutional start in the presence of the authorities. The city route continued, still with the timer off, passing under the most famous monuments and then heading towards Piazzale Michelangelo and from here continuing towards the Gavinana area, where the Tour paid homage to Gino Bartali. The competitive race began just outside the city limits, in the Bagno a Ripoli area, where the official start was given. The caravan then crossed the territories of six municipalities of the Metropolitan City: Bagno a Ripoli, Pontassieve, Pelago, Rufina, Dicomano, San Godenzo.

The Tour de France 2024

There are 21 stages: 8 stages for sprinters, 4 mixed stages, 2 time trials, 7 mountain stages, four of which have an uphill finish, and 14 dirt roads. In total, the runners will face more than 52,000 meters of altitude difference over a distance of 3,498 kilometres, of which 59 are time trials and 32 are dirt. The highest point will be the Col de la Bonette, with its 2,802 meters of altitude. There will also be 6 climbs above 2,000 metres: Sestriere (2,035 metres), Galibier (2,642 metres) from Briançon, Tourmalet (2,115 metres) from Luz-Saint-Sauveur, Col de Vars (2,109 metres) and Isola (2,024 metres).

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