The hills of Tuscany offered road cycling fans a feast for the eyes, but for the riders the first stage of the tour of France was a rough start.
In addition to the more than 200 kilometers of road cycling, the riders of the Tour of France were tested by heat of about 30 degrees on the way from Florence to Rimini in Italy.
The men’s competition takes a different route than usual in the Paris Olympic year. Starting from a different country is already familiar, but this year the Tour de France will end in Nice on July 21 instead of Paris.
This year’s tour started with the French hill specialist by Romain Bardet under control. He broke away from the main group at the end of the opening stage and achieved the fourth stage win of his career in the all-around.
The competition’s favorites stayed well in the race, but the Briton, who is aiming for the all-around stage win record Mark Cavendish was in trouble and threw up along the way. Cavendish is riding the tour for the 15th time and is aiming for the 35th stage win of his career at the Tour.
Results (teletext) here