After scoring the fourth Tour de France stage win of his career in addition to his first-ever maillot jaune, Romain Bardet hailed the stage 1 ride achieved by himself and his teammate Frank van den Broek as "pure cycling".
The DSM-Firmenich PostNL pairing held off a charging chase group in Rimini to score a one-two at the conclusion of the hilly 206km stage. Van den Broek had raced in the day's breakaway since the opening 20km, while Bardet made his move 50km from the finish as the early move was disintegrating.
