Romance is alive and well in the Tour de France, but so is chaos and suffering. As Mark Cavendish was sweating like a dog and vomiting on the climbs on the first stage from Florence to Rimini, one of the peloton’s most popular riders and great thinkers, Romain Bardet, making his final appearance in a race in which he has twice come close to winning, claimed the first yellow jersey of his career.
If Bardet was in a state of disbelief at the finish, Cavendish and his Astana Qazaqstan team were just in a state. On the ropes almost immediately, the recently knighted sprinter toiled over the numerous climbs, and also lost his Italian teammate, Michele Gazzoli, who quit after 120km of the Tour’s first stage.
