A promising start for Thibau Nys at his debut WorldTour stage race with the Belgian sprinting to second on stage one in Switzerland.
Only Ethan Vernon (Soudal – Quick-Step) was stronger than Nys today with the 20-year-old rider making his move up the right-hand side of the peloton with, what looked like, relative ease before a powerful final effort to the line.
Jacopo Mosca was also in the mix during the hectic finish and rounded out the top five with his own solid sprint finish (must be all that road sign sprinting with Elisa!).
Two in the top five 👏👊#TDR2023 pic.twitter.com/BAt5AYoHnj
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) April 26, 2023
Thibau’s reaction
“I’m a little bit disappointed because I felt like I had the legs to win but in a sprint like this with full tailwind and a little bit downhill, once you are up to speed it’s so hard to close the gap to someone. It’s a bit of a shame as I felt really good.
“The final was really tricky to get into position, but I got some really good help from the team to get me to the front and then it was a matter of choosing the right wheel.
“I can’t complain about my sprint, I was really good and the power was there. I think I was just one or two places too far back when the sprint launched to go for the win but this is still a nice result to start with here.
“We will see what happens tomorrow. Today I felt good on the climb and I think I was one of the only fast guys still there so, if I have another day like this tomorrow, then it looks very promising. But I think I will feel these efforts tomorrow.”
King (of the Mountains) Julien 👑
Julien Bernard flew the Trek-Segafredo flag at the front of the race for a large part of the 170.9-kilometer stage, taking maximum points at the first and second categorised climbs to secure the King of the Mountains jersey going into stage two.
The breakaway with @JulienBernard17 in action at #TDR2023 today! pic.twitter.com/CTfCqlIXEk
— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) April 26, 2023
However, the Frenchman was clearly on a mission and despite the breakaway already being caught by the peloton, he continued to ride strongly and was also the first (closely followed by teammate and compatriot Kenny Elissonde) to the top of the third and final KOM of the day.
