Tour de France, bitter start for the Italians: Ganna falls and retires. Belgian Phlipsen gets the first yellow jersey

The Tour starts badly for the Italians. In the first stage, the 185 km Loos-Lille won in a sprint by the Belgian Jasper Philipsen ahead of the Eritrean Biniam Girmay, we immediately lose Filippo Ganna, the most representative rider of the small Italian expedition, which now, after the withdrawal of our time trialist, is reduced to ten riders.

Ganna, who had put all his efforts into the Tour and skipped the Giro d'Italia, fell after 52 km of racing at a time of great tension in the group due to the strong crosswind that would then create fans that would affect the final part of the stage.

After getting up after the fall, the Olympic champion returned to the group despite having lost almost two minutes. Unfortunately, an effort that was in vain because, about seventy kilometers from the finish line, Ganna had to withdraw due to a strong pain in his back that prevented him from continuing. A bad accident, that of the Verbania native, who was aiming for the Caen time trial, scheduled for July 9, and also for other northern stages particularly suited to his characteristics.

A season to reinvent for Ganna, given that the next world championship in Rwanda, both for the time trial and the road race, is more suited to climbers.

A Tour with a complicated start, full of traps and pitfalls, as some favorites, starting with Pogacar, had prefigured. In the north of France in fact the wind, with sudden gusts that break the group, can become decisive. Some highly anticipated big names will pay the price. Among the Italians in particular the Friulian Jonathan Milan, one of the most anticipated for this sprint in Lille.