THREAD The best photos from the first stage of this year’s Tour de France. #TDF2024 1. Romain Bardet pointing to the person, that helped him achieving his lifelong dream. (📷: cyclingimages)
"In Romain Bardet's position, I would not have wanted it" - Michael Boogerd joins in Dutch fury at perceived slight towards Frank van den Broek at Tour de France
CyclingSunday, 30 June 2024 at 15:06
The opening stage of the 2024 Tour de France was an absolute thriller. In the end, it was a win for Romain Bardet in his final Tour de France, seeing the darling of French cycling move into the Maillot Jaune for the first time.
This win brought a smile to nearly all cycling fans faces, except that is, if you were a Dutch ex-pro apparently. After the fierce criticism of the situation by Stef Clement, Michael Boogerd has also joined in the furore, with the root of the issues being the fact Frank van den Broek, who had been in the breakaway all day, passing on the win and the Maillot Jaune to his team leader.
"Furious is a big word, but I am disappointed. Maybe a little angry. I try to put myself in Bardet's shoes. Everyone could see that Van den Broek was the best. The turns he did on the descent and on the flat were so much stronger than those of Bardet," rants the former Paris-Nice and Amstel Gold Race winner on the podcast De Kopgroep. "I wouldn't even have wanted to win if I were Bardet. That he thinks: that boy has ridden so fast and if I cross the line first, I will be an idiot. I understand the team orders. The plan was correct and it is not that Bardet received it completely as a gift, but in Bardet's position I would not have wanted it yet."
Although van den Broek was given the secondary prizes of White Jersey and Green Jersey, that does nothing to ease Boogerd's frustrations. "He will never experience that again, haha. He will miss out on 12 criteriums for 25,000 euros," the 52-year-old Dutchman answers. "Nice one, Bardet."
What do you think? Was Bardet taking the win the right call? Or should van den Broek's work have been rewarded with the Maillot Jaune?
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