There are various ways the Tour de France could start, such as a short prologue, a longer time trial or a bunch sprint. The 2024 edition chose none of those tried-and-tested options, instead plucking for a brutal opening stage that the peloton has declared the toughest ever way to begin a Grand Tour.
More than 3,500 climbing metres were packed into a 206km route from Florence to Rimini, with temperatures nudging almost 40C in central Italy. Dsm-firmenich PostNL scored a memorable one-two, Frenchman Romain Bardet claiming his first ever yellow jersey after he and his young teammate Frank van den Broek pulled off a team masterclass.
