{"id":6934,"date":"2024-07-01T14:34:07","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T12:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=6934"},"modified":"2024-07-01T14:34:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T12:34:07","slug":"tour-drama-as-pogacar-takes-yellow-and-france-wins-first-two-stages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/07\/01\/tour-drama-as-pogacar-takes-yellow-and-france-wins-first-two-stages\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour Drama as Poga\u010dar Takes Yellow and France Wins First Two Stages"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2024 Tour de France opened with more drama than Star Wars as Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates) took the yellow jersey on stage 2 (as he did in the Giro d\u2019Italia) and Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) won his first-ever yellow jersey on a remarkable and thrilling stage 1.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In addition, French riders won the first two stages of a Tour for the first time since 1968, when 23-year-old K\u00e9vin Vauquelin gave his relegation-threatened Ark\u00e9a\u2013B&B Hotels its first-ever Tour victory with a brave solo finale on stage 2.
\nFinally, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> (Visma\u2013Lease a Bike), returning from a horrendous crash suffered less than three months ago, demonstrated that he is at least close to his best form when he countered Poga\u010dar\u2019s explosive breakaway attempt near the top of the brutal C\u00f4te de San Luca (1.9km @ 10.2% with ramps of up to 20%), and stayed with him until the stage 2 finish line.<\/p>\n

That makes for a lot of drama, but these first two Tour stages, which totaled some 5,500m in climbing, were rich in suspense and great racing. The thrills started on stage 1, perhaps the hardest-ever opening Tour stage. The 206km route from Florence to Rimini included seven categorized climbs, adding up to 3,600m of climbing, and was run in temperatures on the road surface as high as 38\u00b0C (100.4\u00b0F).<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old Bardet, who is riding in his final Tour de France,<\/a> broke away from the bunch with 50km to go, and then hooked up with his 23-year-old teammate Frank van den Broek, who is riding in his first Tour and had been in a breakaway for some 170km.<\/p>\n

With 32km left to race, the two had a lead of 2 minutes over the peloton. They worked marvelously together, van den Broek providing the power, Bardet guiding his young teammate over the remaining climbs. But with 1km left to race, their lead had dwindled to a mere 10 seconds. They redoubled their efforts as the peloton bore down on them until, 50m from the finish line, Bardet smiled, sat up and pointed at his valiant teammate as they crossed the line.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udcc8 Climbing San Luca
\ud83d\udcc8 Dans l\u2019ascension de San Luca#TDF2024<\/a> <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf8 Charly Lopez \/ A.S.O. pic.twitter.com\/SzcPp7lDvw<\/a><\/p>\n

— Tour de France\u2122 (@LeTour) June 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n