Tour de France 2024 Stage 1 - Romain Bardet takes surprise win on day of pain for Mark Cavendish

The gruppetto has just crossed the line a whopping 39'15" down. Last to finish was Fabio Jakobsen and so DSM will top and tail the stage today, while Cavendish was given a pat on the back by the four Astana team-mates who rode alongside him today.

An emotional Wout van Aert said a few words at the end of the stage after his third place: "It's really satisfying to [be back]. It's a pity I came up short on the win, but where I came from, I never expected to be here, to be on this level, and it feels good. I'm really proud with my performance and the team today. It was a super hectic day on twisty roads."

The Frenchman wins at the first possible occasion and will wear the first yellow jersey of his final Tour de France - having announced before the race that he will retire from road racing after next year's Dauphine before moving into gravel racing. Bardet attacked with 50km remaining on the penultimate climb and then joined forces with team-mate Frank van den Broek up the road to devastating effect.

"It's amazing. I don't have any words for it. We had the plan. I was in the break. Romain made the jump to the break and I could help him. It was good he paced the last climb because I was on my limit. But I could do some pacing afterwards. But there was a headwind. Very hard. The last straight was so long and I could see the peloton. It was just head down, and I pushed the last bit of energy from my legs. It was unbelievable."

And that's a statement of intent: Tadej Pogacar takes fourth place after all that...

1. Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)
2. Frank van den Broek (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)
3. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) +5
4. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates)
5. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny)
6. Alex Aranburu (Movistar)
7. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
8. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step)
9. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious)
10. Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost)

Frustration for Belgium's Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) who leads the chasers home for third place. The gap was five seconds in the end.

It's a Team dsm-firmenich PostNL one-two as they pick the pockets of the peloton with a ride for the ages! What a monstrous ride from Romain Bardet who takes the win ahead of his rookie team-mate, the deeply impressive Frank van den Broek.

Lidl-Trek take it up for Mads Pedersen but they trail the leaders by 10 seconds as they pass under the flamme rouge. Onto the home straight now and it's all there to play for...

Rui Costa for EF and then Matteo Jorgenson for Visma pull hard on the front to reduce the lead to 15 seconds. The leaders look over their shoulders and see the pack closing in...

They're on a long, straight and flat road heading into Rimini which gives it a real cat-and-mouse feel. The two leaders will know exactly what they have to do - and those behind will have them in their sights. Impossible to call this.

What a fight they're putting up. French veteran Romain Bardet and Dutch debutant Frank van den Broek are riding their socks off to maintain their advantage - and it looks like they may well pull it of.

Just 40 seconds now for the two leaders. They haven't caved in just yet - and could still hold on - but behind the riders in the pack are discarding their bottles and rubbish to prepare for a fast finish. We don't know who is here but we think the fastest finishers are Van Aert and Pedersen. Bettiol's chances are surely gone - unless he anticipates any sprint. Aranburu could be here, but that has not yet been confirmed.

You're beginning to feel sorry in advance for the two leaders, whose advantage is down to 50 seconds now - "it's just going to be a little bit too far for them," says Sean Kelly in the commentary box. Ever the optimist, Sean.

Should it come back to a spriint between the chasers then you have to fancy Mads Pedersen, who battled back and is in the main peloton of around 50 riders. Wout van Aert is also here and Visma are contributing to the chase alongside Lidl-Trek and EF Education. The gap is just under one minute.

It's hardly coming down and so it's looking very good for Romain Bardet's bid to don yellow on the first day of his final Tour - or indeed his team-mate Van den Broek to do the same on the first day of his first Tour. Spare a thought for the Cavendish gruppetto, though, who have still not yet started the final climb up into San Marino. They trail the leaders by 30'25".

The Frenchman signals his team car and gets a final bottle of water. The pack is 1'29" behind so it's touch and go. But you'd prefer to be the men ahead than the chasers behind. Healy is back with the pack and EF now have three riders - including the national champion Bettiol - on the front and setting the tempo.

They may have Healy up the road but perhaps the Irishman was always just a longshot because EF Education-EasyPost have send men to the front to pace for their man Alberto Bettiol. They're 1'35" behind the leaders and so everything is still to play for...