TdF: It’s a dream start to the Tour

 

Romain Bardet: Riding in his final Tour, gets his first maillot jaune.

"I couldn't really dream to achieve something like this. With the way the route was and how Frank and Oscar rode today, big respect and fair play to them. We just wanted to have fun and ride our bikes like there was no tomorrow. It was a long run together in the last 40 kilometres. When I had bridge across, I could feel that Frank was super pumped to have me there too, so we just went full gas to the line after that.  Frank is a true gentleman, half of this jersey belongs to him. I can honestly only say all of the compliments in the world to him. We'll enjoy this as a team, it's the perfects start to the race for us."

-Romain Bardet. Stage 1 winner, yellow jersey. Fourth stage win TdF.

"From the beginning we were good as a team and I made it into the break. Romain then made the jump to the group and I could help him. It was good as he could then pace the last climb as I was on my limit there and he waited for me. Then I could do some turns on the flat run in but it was a headwind and very hard. The last straight felt so long. I could see the peloton and then it was about putting our heads down and just pushing the last energy out of our legs, and we gave full commitment to the line. I even had cramp in the last five kilometres. Maybe in a few hours I'll realise what's happened."

-Frank Van den Broek. In his debutant Tour, he's second on GC, points leader, most combative award, young riders leader.

"We said we wanted to come into the race in a good way and target this opening weekend. Frank made it into the main break of the day which was a perfect scenario for us and got us into the race. We talked with Romain and saw a good opportunity to jump across, and he did just that. From there Frank and Romain committed all-in together. The time gap was coming down slowly so there was always a chance we could make it or be caught late, but we managed to pull it off in the end. It's a dream start to the Tour."

-Matt Winston. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach.

Stage 1 results