Benson Bulletin: Tour de France stage 1 winners and losers 🇫🇷
Analysis covering Vingegaard, Pogačar, Evenepoel, Roglič, Watson, O'Connor, Ganna, and the sprinters
Hi Subscribers,
The dust has finally settled on stage 1 of the Tour de France.
There’s a lot to analyse from a day that saw Jasper Philipsen secure victory and claim the first yellow jersey of this year’s race, and the GC landscape develop after an echelon-filled finale that saw Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič lose time. Meanwhile, Filippo Ganna was the first rider to withdraw from the race.
In today’s Bulletin, we hear from Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel and Sam Watson, assess where today’s result leaves Evenepoel and Roglič, reflect on Alpecin’s start to the Tour and cover a missed opportunity for several sprinters. We also unpack Watson’s fine debut and Ganna’s untimely departure.
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Thanks
Daniel 🫶
Winners 🙌
Pogačar and Vingegaard lay down the law 👩⚖️
Stage 1 provided an instant reminder of who the top favourites are in this year’s race, with standout performances from Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. Both were present and accounted for when the peloton split with around 17km to go. Visma-Lease a Bike were particularly impressive, posting four riders in the front group compared to UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s two, but each team will be more than content with their start to the Tour.
It wasn’t completely perfect. Pogačar only had Tim Wellens for cover, while Vingegaard saw Simon Yates drop out of contention.
For UAE Team Emirates-XRG, their collective time losses for Pogačar’s support crew probably isn’t a significant concern; Pogačar is so dominant that their tactics wouldn’t have totally relied on having a numerical advantage on GC, but Pogačar will likely seek more support on stage 2 when thunderstorms are forecast, and being isolated could become an issue. For Visma, they will be pleased, having led from the front and demonstrated that they are prepared to seize every opportunity this year’s race offers. Gaining 39 seconds on Roglič and Evenepoel won’t determine their overall outcome in this race, but it certainly sets a positive tone in the early stages.
What today also showed is that Pogačar and Vingegaard will be relentless at every turn. We may encounter considerable time gaps by the time we reach the first TT on stage 5. By then, several riders could be well out of GC contention before we even hit the mountains.
Hats off to Enric Mas, though. He was one of the few GC riders to make the split and join the front group. Few would have expected that.
Hear from Tadej Pogačar:
Jasper Philipsen makes it a perfect ten 🟡
The first half of the season was somewhat underwhelming from Philipsen. He won Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, but the Spring Classics as a whole were disappointing for the Belgian star.
It’s incredible how much a season can change in the space of 16km, though, with Philipsen and his team bossing the first group, establishing a split, and then dominating the finale before Philipsen showed his rivals a clean pair of heels. Once the Alpecin - Deceuninck rider hit the front inside the final 150m, there was no stopping him, and he won the opening stage by an evident margin.
He could barely contain himself as he crossed the line, safe in the knowledge that the win also secured him the yellow jersey.
Such a win and its importance cannot be underestimated. Alpecin-Deceuninck are desperate for a second sponsor; they’re losing riders to teams with bigger budgets and more to offer, and they haven’t made any major signings this season. When you have Philipsen, Mathieu van der Poel, and Kaden Groves, you don’t really need to start branching out and signing climbers in an attempt to be something you’re not. But winning today, and pulling on yellow, will be a massive moment for the team and one they hope will lead to more sponsorship opportunities.
As for Philipsen, it was a huge moment, and one he desperately needed. He’ll wear the jersey for perhaps just one day, but that marks 10 stage wins in his Tour de France career. That momentum, which he struggled to maintain last year at the Tour, will be crucial in his effort to reclaim the green jersey.