The first rest day of the Tour de France gave fans a chance to sit back and digest a crazy first week.
From a fascinating general classification battle to record breaking sprinters, many observers are calling it the best first week of racing in the history of La Grande Boucle.
As the race returns to action, VAVEL take a look at the key takeaways from week one.
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Fascinating GC race set to heat up
The big four contenders for the yellow jersey are separated by just one minute and 36 seconds going into the second week of racing.
Two-time champion Tadej Pogacar has led the general classification since stage four having initially won it on stage two, surrendering it on stage three to Richard Carapaz, before winning stage four on the Col du Galibier in stunning fashion to take it back. He currently holds a margin of 33 seconds ahead over debutant Remco Evenepoel.
The Belgian rider already has a stage win in his maiden Tour de France, after beating the Slovenian by 12 seconds on stage seven’s individual time trial.
The 24-year-old has shown he can keep up with the favourites so far, even on stage nine’s uncomfortable terrain but whether he can stay with them for the whole three weeks remains to be seen.
The winner of the past two editions of the race, Jonas Vingegaard currently sits in third place, one minute and 15 seconds behind his arch rival Pogacar.
Le Tour marked his return from a crash at the Tour of the Basque Country, in which he suffered a broken collarbone, several broken ribs and a punctured lung. Despite this, he has not cracked yet despite constant pressure from his biggest competitor.
There was an expectation that the top three would consolidate their podium position during stage nine, however, Vingegaard refused to work with his rivals to distance the rest of the podium contenders, which has led to criticism from observers and Pogacar and Evenepoel.
However, Jumbo Lease a Bike are racing solely to avoid losing time to Pogacar, which suggests that they expect Vingegaard to come into form later in the tour and do not fear Evenepoel, so if he was dropped in the first week by the Slovenian whilst riding on the bike of teammate Jan Tratnik after a mechanical, his tour would be over.
Finally, Vingegaard’s former teammate Primoz Roglic, who is now racing for Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe, is one minute and 36 seconds back from his compatriot who beat him on the final stage before the procession into Paris in 2020.
The Slovenian has looked the weakest out of the quarter so far, however, only a fool would rule him out at this point.
It promises to be a thrilling two weeks ahead, with plenty more twists and turns to come, and the mind games will only increase.
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Comeback king Cavendish is immortalised in tour history
Mark Cavendish’s win on stage five was his first since equalling Eddy Merckx’s record for the most stage victories in tour history in 2021.
The 39-year-old now holds the record all by himself with a total of 35 stage wins in La Grand Boucle.
It was a truly remarkable victory given the setbacks that the Astana rider has faced in recent years, he missed the race in 2018, 2019 and 2020 whilst battling with injuries, depression and Epstein-Barr virus.
He came back in 2021 and won four stages as Deceuninck Quick-Step took a chance on him, before being left out of the tour team in 2022.
Astana-Qazaqstan gave him a lifeline in 2023, and he came agonisingly close to the record win in his supposed final tour before crashing out of the race the next day.
Team principal Alexander Vinokourov persuaded him to postpone his retirement for a year and ultimately it proved to be the right decision.
It was looking like it was not his year, as he struggled in the opening stage, with illness and heat exhaustion and was denied a chance to contest a bunch finish on stage three due to a crash around 2km from the finish line.
However, in true Cav fashion, he would not let those setbacks define him, and on stage five, with the bunch getting messy as the finish approached and his lead out team disintegrating around him, the Manx Missile expertly darted onto Jasper Philipsen’s wheel before switching to Pascal Ackermann’s as the finish line approached.
None of his rivals could match his acceleration and the Cannonball immortalised himself in tour history.
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Record-breaker Girmay‘s quest for green
Biniam Girmay became the first black African rider to win a stage at Le Tour on stage three.
The Eritrean was an afterthought to his Intermarché-Wanty team, who were attempting to deliver Gerben Thijssen to victory in Turin, only for Girmay to surge to the front of the pack and make history.
He was not just going to sit back after a maiden stage win either, adding another victory to his palmares on stage eight, beating Jasper Philipsen on a tough uphill finish in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises.
The 24-year-old leads the points classification with 228 points, almost double the tally of his main rival (Philipsen) for the green jersey.
If he manages to stay in green until the end, he will become the first African rider to ever win a jersey at the tour.
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French riders fare well but GC wait continues
Despite hosting the most prestigious grand tour in cycling, French riders have not had much luck in the race in recent years.
However, this tour has started off brilliantly for the hosts, with three winners in nine stages.
The first stage was won by Romain Bardet, in his final participation in his home grand tour, and he headed into stage two in the yellow jersey for the first time in his career.
The next day, Kevin Vauquelin won stage two to give his team, Arkea-B&B a maiden stage win after ten years of trying.
The host nation would have to wait until stage nine for their next winner, with Anthony Turgis out-sprinting Tom Pidcock on the line to hand his team TotalEnergies a first win since 2017 at the tour.
Whilst it has been a very positive start for the French, the long wait for a yellow jersey winner will remain, with Bernard Hinault the last Frenchman to win the greatest race in cycling in 1985.
Unfortunately, it does not look like that will change any time soon.
