Romain Bardet wins first stage of Tour de France as Mark Cavendish struggles

STAGE WIN: Romain Bardet, right, wins stage one of the Tour de France ahead of team-mate Frank van den Broek. Pic: Daniel Cole/AP

Romain Bardet won a thrilling stage one of the Tour de France in Rimini to take the yellow jersey as Sir Mark Cavendish’s pursuit of a record-breaking 35th stage victory was put into question by an apparent illness.

Bardet attacked out of the peloton with 50 kilometres left of the 206km stage from Florence and, aided by his team-mate and Tour debutant Frank van den Broek out of the breakaway, did just enough to hold off the approaching pack by a matter of metres on the Adriatic seafront.