“I am completely f*cked up" - Frank van den Broek the real star of the Tour de France's opening day as he gifts Romain Bardet victory and yellow jersey

Frank van den Broek is only 23 years old and is a neo-pro, and in his first time racing at the Tour de France the Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL rider was an absolute star. He was in the breakaway of the day, helped Romain Bardet drop all rivals and rode together with the Frenchman all the way to the finish where the duo took the victory together - but where he allowed his leader to take a career-changing victory in what is his last Tour.

“I am completely fucked up, completely empty. I have no words. I surprised myself. We had planned to be in the breakaway, because we wanted to be there in the opening weekend," van den Broek told NOS. "That went pretty well. I was in the first leading group, but I was able to keep going after that. It was super hot today, but the team had a really good plan with water bottles and ice. That was perfect." He was only one of many strong riders in the front group, but would late in the day resist the climbing and hot conditions much better than all of his rivals. “I wanted the polka dot jersey, but I didn't have the punch against those other guys."

As Romain Bardet attacked with 50 kilometers to go, the Dutchman waited for his leader and then paced him to the front of the race. "After that Romain was able to make the switch, so we could go out together. Before that I was pretty bummed that I didn't get the polka dot jersey. Why was I still riding there? Maybe for the combativeness award, but we're not here to ride in the picture. But this final is super." Van den Broek still had great legs and the two dropped the rest of the group and took over the head of the race by themselves.

His selection to the Tour in itself was already a relative surprise due to his young age and lack of racing at World Tour level, but has shown himself to the world by winning the Tour of Turkey in April. He admits he was very nervous to take to the start today: "The last few days I didn't feel great, I think it was the tension before my first big tour. But when the flag flew, I was there right away."

But in that finale, he and Bardet managed to hold off the peloton in dramatic fashion, by only 5 seconds. "The whole section against the wind was super tough. I saw the finish very far away and I saw the peloton coming. But it was head down and full throttle to the finish." He looked to be the strongest of the two but did big pulls in the front as it was clear that Bardet was set to take the victory if they managed to succeed in the difficult mission.

"We didn't talk about it. My legs were empty, he came over then. It's great that he wins in his last Tour and takes the yellow jersey," he says of Bardet, who gladfully thanked his teammate in several ways. The victory wouldn't have been possible without van den Broek. " I hope I get enough chances to do that one day. But now I'm riding in white (and green jersey too, ed.), which is super coo," he concludes.