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

The Tour started 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 lost Filippo Ganna, the most representative rider of the sparse Italian expedition, which now, after the withdrawal of our cronoman, is reduced to ten riders.

Ganna, who had set his sights on the Tour and skipped the Giro d'Italia, crashed after 52 kilometres of racing at a moment of great tension in the peloton due to the strong crosswind that would later create fans and affect the final part of the stage.

Having recovered from his fall, the Olympic champion rejoined the group despite having lost almost two minutes. An effort that was unfortunately useless because, some 70 kilometres from the finish, Ganna had to retire due to a strong pain in his back that prevented him from continuing. A bad accident, that of the man from Verbania, who was aiming for the Caen time trial, scheduled for 9 July, and also for other northern fractions particularly suited to his characteristics.

It was therefore a season to reinvent for Ganna as the upcoming world championships in Rwanda, both the time trial and the road race, are more suited to climbers.

A Tour with a complicated start, full of traps and pitfalls, as some favourites, starting with Pogacar, had foreshadowed. In the north of France, in fact, the wind, with sudden gusts that break up the peloton, can become decisive, and some eagerly awaited big names will have to pay the price. Among the Italians in particular is Jonathan Milan from Friuli, one of the most eagerly awaited for this Lille sprint.