French Star Romain Bardet Makes History With Surprise Tour De France Opening Stage Victory

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The opening stage of the 2024 Tour de France presented viewers with a memorable moment that nobody saw coming thanks for French star Romain Bardet.

Bardet, 33, was once considered the future of French cycling. He finished on the podium of the 2016 Tour de France, taking second place behind four-time winner Chris Froome.

The following year, he took third behind Froome and Colombian Rigoberto Uran. Bardet never got closer than that to winning the Tour de France and becoming the Frenchman since Bernard Hinaut in 1985 to win Le Tour. In fact, he never even got the honor of wearing the yellow jersey as the race leader.

But that all changed on Saturday when in his final Tour de France, Bardet won the opening stage after only just holding off a quickly closing Peloton.

It was the fourth Tour de France stage win of Bardet’s career, but his first since 2017.

“The yellow jersey was the last goal of my career. But, to be honest, I had come to terms with it,” said Bardet, who had recently announced he will retire following next year’s Criterium du Dauphine. “I’ve been really close before, I’ve been within touching distance. I’ve just never been able to do it. Today, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen but I had a great teammate with me.”

Bardet finished narrowly ahead of young teammate Frank van den Broek. Van den Broek, 23, is riding in his first Tour de France and was integral to keeping Bardet ahead of the bunch.

“It’s crazy. I didn’t know the course particularly well but Frank was really, really strong out in front and then I felt that I had nothing to lose,” Bardet said of his teammate. “He really deserves this win just as much as me, because he did all of the work.”

Bardet became the first Frenchman to wear the yellow jersey since Julian Alaphillipe in 2021.