Evenepoel top ten on opening stage of the Tour de France

Evenepoel top ten on opening stage of the Tour de France

Firenze – the place where our team won the 2013 World TTT Championships – was a moveable feast Saturday afternoon, as huge crowds flooded the streets to see the riders gather in the historic center of the city for the start of the 111th Tour de France. For Soudal Quick-Step, the Grand Départ marked our team’s 22nd consecutive presence at the race where until now we’ve won a total of 50 stages and six distinctive jerseys.

Traveling to Rimini, on the Adriatic coast, this 206km opening stage had an elevation gain of 3600 meters spread over the day’s seven classified climbs, the last of which came less than 30 kilometers from the finish. It didn’t take long for a breakaway to form, a total of seven riders booking a place in the first move of this year’s Tour de France. From a maximum gap of five minutes, they had only one minute left in the last 50 kilometers, when Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich) attacked from the bunch and joined teammate Frank Van den Broeck.

The duo stayed at the front despite some fierce chasing from the teams who wanted a reduced bunch sprint, and Bardet took the win for a handful of seconds. Remco Evenepoel concluded with the main group in eighth place, an encouraging result for the 24-year-old Belgian, who had Soudal Quick-Step teammates Mikel Landa and Ilan Van Wilder for company in the final part of the stage.

“I had a good feeling today, better than the one in the Dauphiné a couple of weeks ago. My teammates did a great job, making sure I was well positioned the entire time, I didn’t suffer from the heat, so overall I think it was a good day. On Sunday things should be more hectic, with even more riders involved in the fight for victory, so it will be important to stay focused and always up there”, Evenepoel explained after the stage.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Romain Bardet
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
5:07:22
2 Frank van den Broek
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
3 Wout van Aert
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:05
4 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
0:05
5 Maxim Van Gils
Lotto Dstny
0:05
6 Alex Aranburu Deba
Movistar Team
0:05
7 Mads Pedersen
Lidl - Trek
0:05
8 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
0:05
9 Pello Bilbao López de Armentia
Bahrain - Victorious
0:05
10 Alberto Bettiol
EF Education - EasyPost
0:05
13 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
0:05
32 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
0:05
56 Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step
9:00
85 Gianni Moscon
Soudal Quick-Step
18:46
123 Casper Pedersen
Soudal Quick-Step
29:14
158 Yves Lampaert
Soudal Quick-Step
30:18
162 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
30:18
1 Romain Bardet
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
5:07:12
2 Frank van den Broek
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:04
3 Wout van Aert
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:11
4 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
0:15
5 Maxim Van Gils
Lotto Dstny
0:15
6 Alex Aranburu Deba
Movistar Team
0:15
7 Mads Pedersen
Lidl - Trek
0:15
8 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
0:15
9 Pello Bilbao López de Armentia
Bahrain - Victorious
0:15
10 Alberto Bettiol
EF Education - EasyPost
0:15
13 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
0:15
32 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
0:15
56 Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step
9:10
85 Gianni Moscon
Soudal Quick-Step
18:56
123 Casper Pedersen
Soudal Quick-Step
29:24
158 Yves Lampaert
Soudal Quick-Step
30:28
162 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
30:28
1 Frank van den Broek
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
33 pt
2 Romain Bardet
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
30 pt
3 Wout van Aert
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
22 pt
4 Sandy Dujardin
TotalEnergies
20 pt
5 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
19 pt
6 Mads Pedersen
Lidl - Trek
19 pt
7 Maxim Van Gils
Lotto Dstny
17 pt
8 Jonas Abrahamsen
Uno-X Mobility
17 pt
9 Alex Aranburu Deba
Movistar Team
15 pt
10 Ryan Gibbons
Lidl - Trek
15 pt
12 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
11 pt
22 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
4 pt
1 Jonas Abrahamsen
Uno-X Mobility
13 pt
2 Valentin Madouas
Groupama - FDJ
11 pt
3 Frank van den Broek
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
9 pt
4 Ion Izagirre Insausti
Cofidis
8 pt
5 Romain Bardet
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
3 pt
6 Matej Mohorič
Bahrain - Victorious
1 pt
1 Frank van den Broek
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
5:07:16
2 Maxim Van Gils
Lotto Dstny
0:11
3 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
0:11
4 Thomas Pidcock
INEOS Grenadiers
0:11
5 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
0:11
6 Matteo Jorgenson
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:11
7 Tobias Halland Johannessen
Uno-X Mobility
0:11
8 Carlos Rodríguez Cano
INEOS Grenadiers
0:11
9 Oscar Onley
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:11
10 Johannes Kulset
Uno-X Mobility
0:11
1 Team dsm-firmenich PostNL 15:22:11
2 Team Visma | Lease a Bike 0:10
3 INEOS Grenadiers 0:10
4 Soudal Quick-Step 0:10
5 Lidl - Trek 0:10
6 Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe 0:10
7 EF Education - EasyPost 0:10
8 Movistar Team 0:10
9 Bahrain - Victorious 0:10
10 UAE Team Emirates 0:10

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