Bardet wins hot and hilly opening Tour de France stage in Italy

Staff Reporter.

@LeTour.

Frenchman Romain Bardet won the first stage of the Tour de France, a 206 km hilly ride from Florence, and took the overall leader’s yellow jersey on Saturday.

Bardet’s team-mate Frank van den Broek was second following a breakaway from the two riders which saw the pair just finish seconds ahead of the closing peloton.

Mark Cavendish struggled on stage one, and is set to finish more than 30 minutes behind the peloton.

Cavendish is attempting to break the Tour de France record for stage wins he shares with Belgian legend Eddy Merckx on 34.

The 39-year-old came out of retirement last year after coming within centimetres of breaking the record, before abandoning the race with a broken collarbone following a crash.

Cavendish crossed the line with team-mates and fellow sprinter Fabio Jakobsen of DSM with 10 minutes to spare before the elimination time limit.

There was speculation Cavendish had been ill during the stage in sweltering conditions, but he is expected to continue in what is thought to be his final Tour.

Speaking to Eurosport, Cavendish said: “That was so hard but we had a plan and we stuck to it.”

“We would have liked one more climb with the peloton but I was seeing stars it was so hard.”

Stage two on Sunday sees the race travel 199.2km over the rolling hills of the Emilia-Romagna region as it heads from Cesenatico to Bologna.