Emotions ran high after the opening stage of the 2024 Tour de France in Rimini – and not just because the French home favourite Romain Bardet claimed a breakaway stage win and the first yellow jersey of his career in his final outing at the race.
Leading the peloton home behind Bardet and his DSM-Firmenich PostNL teammate Frank van den Broek was Belgian star Wout van Aert, rounding out the podium for the best result since he crashed out of the spring Classics at Dwars door Vlaanderen three months ago.
Van Aert, who competed at the Tour of Norway and the Belgian National Championships before starting his sixth Tour de France, was emotional after crossing the line, having completed a long comeback from the broken ribs, collarbone, and sternum suffered at Dwars.
He's been forced to miss out on the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and a Giro d'Italia debut in the meantime. But a third place on stage 1 – despite days ago claiming he has "never started the Tour in such poor form" – was a good reason to let the emotions flow.
"It's really satisfying to show this again," Van Aert said amid tears of relief past the finish line in the resort town on the shore of the Adriatic Sea. "Obviously, it's a pity I came up short on the win but where I came from, I never expected to be here on this level, and it feels really good."
The 206km opening stage was a tough one, with seven major climbs packing the route and distancing all but the most versatile of fastmen – Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Alex Aranburu (Movistar) also finished among the top 10 – while temperatures reached an uncomfortable 35°C.
The route, and the conditions – plus some hard pacemaking set mid-stage by UAE Team Emirates – combined to make it a challenging day in the saddle, with only 46 men finishing in the main group behind Bardet and Van den Broek.
Van Aert said that he could see others suffering during the five-hour stage, but realised that he, in contrast, was feeling more positive.
"Throughout the race, I could see that a lot of guys were suffering, and I felt quite OK still," he said. "So, slowly I gained confidence – especially in the last four climbs. The first two were the hardest so when I was over them, I started to believe in it.
"I also asked the boys to fully commit for the stage win. It's obviously a shame we missed out on that, but I'm really proud of my performance and of how we rode."
His Visma-Lease A Bike had been among the teams doing the bulk of the work in the final 52km of the stage, which included the final three climbs. The Dutch squad, later joined by Lidl-Trek who worked for Pedersen, fell just short of catching the DSM duo.
However, the day was still a positive experience, with team leader and defending race champion Jonas Vingegaard also coming through without any difficulties on his first day back in the peloton following his own spring-ruining crash at Itzulia Basque Country.
"I think [Jonas was] never in trouble," Van Aert said of his Danish teammate. "Also, it was a super hectic day with twisty roads, so it must give him a good feeling to finish off like this."
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