Tour de France Stage 1 BREAKAWAY REACTION: Chaotic sprint for iconic first yellow jersey in Lille 🟨

The Breakaway team reflect on a thrilling opening Stage at the 2025 Tour de France.

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Thank you, Rob. Chaotic indeed and as is so often the case, Alperson Dunik, the kings of chaos. A dream start to this cheer to France. A dream start for Yasper Phillips as well. The first sprinter to take the first yellow jersey at the tour to France in five years. You couldn’t script it better than that, could you, Adam? Unbelievable. We waited all day for and we got it in the last 15k of that race and that split went far. But Alpasin strength in numbers. They had four riders coming into the last 700 meters there. So if they were to fail, they failed big time out of a group of 20 25 riders with all of them going to line and mainly all their leadout riders, not just any riders, the full lead out. They nailed it to perfection. And Philipsson, you got to take your hats off to him. You know, that sprint there, even though he took it on from when his last lead out man stopped, you can see here he visibly put distance into everyone even though they were on the wheel. So yeah, full Chapo. All credit to them and welldeserved. First yellow jersey in the tour. a welloiled machine. Michael, you would usually expect to be in the middle of all of that. What did you make of it from this side? It was hectic. I mean, watching it here from the studio, I mean, I think my heart rate was high as I were expecting a split the whole day. We got what we wanted in the final there. It was It was chaotic. It was hectic. And I think the strongest man won on the day. Robbie, that’s only his third win of the season. What a way to do it. Yeah, for a guy who’s had a difficult season until now. Had only won two races. And we’re talking about Yasper Phillips and he’s a prolific winner to only have two until now but over the last couple of weeks you’ve seen he’s on the build. He won a stage in the tour of Belgium. He was second uh at their or no third at their nationals which was on a really tough course. So he’s been on the build. You call them the kings of chaos. They’re also the kings of calm steered by Matthew Vanderpool. He’s sort of the one guiding them in. But as Adam mentioned, not any four riders of the team there in the last 750 meters, but four of the their lead out them were all there. Everybody did everything they were supposed to do exactly when they were supposed to do it. When the group split, they were making contributions. They were riding or staying safe. When it was a sure thing they were going to stay away, no one was coming back, they sat back. So they never did anything they didn’t need to do, which is just as important as doing what you have to do. Apart from the cheeky attack. Well, just Yeah. If you’re not going to follow, we’ll go. But that they they just they do everything so clinically. Yeah. The kings of the calm amidst the chaos. Should we go with that one? I was going to say that’s a tongue twister am. What a lead out it was. It’s what we come to expect of course from Alba Kernik. The man then who was doing the lead out, Kaden Groves. Let’s hear from him. Kaden. Kaden, can we have one quick word, mate? That was what a stressful day. just talk us through that incredible finale. Yeah, I mean uh the echelons in the race split about 25 to go I think about 20 or 15. Uh not something we expected actually. We had numbers in the front and could dictate the race and uh we spent a lot of energy to keep it away but also uh had the horsepower to to deliver Yafa pretty well. And what’s it what’s it like just to be a part of this this setup here shaping the race and now taking the jersey? Quite quite an honor actually to wear this jersey and uh two super leaders when Yasper Macho and uh absolute massive congrats to to Yasper and the entire team. Uh yeah, I think both deserve it equally. Nice one. Thank you very much. I’m feeling the energy from Kenan Groves there. I love it. And he’s and he’s dipping it to doling his cap to Maj and to Yasper. But in his own right, Ken Groves is also a leader. He’s also a winner. So to see his enthusiasm at being part of that win is really quite something, isn’t it Robie? Well, if you interviewed the others, they’d be doing their cap to Kaden as well. He’s a proven winner. He’s won at the Jirro before. He’s a guy if they’d put him in last position and Yaspid let him out. We could be talking about Kaden Groves as a yellow jersey wearing a stage winner. They had two distinct possibilities, but Kaden knew he was coming to the tour to support Yasper and he’s done it to perfection. And that’s what I find really admirable about how he’s done it, how he’s reacting, because for someone who’s a proven winner, it’s it’s it’s not easy to just go and ride for somebody else. And but he’s done it 100% and it was incredible. You got to take your hat off to him as well cuz we’re behind that crash behind Ben. I mean, flipping it, we’re just full of him in a minute. But he was caught behind that crash. I know this a small group, but he was caught behind that crash as well with Ben Oconor and managed to get back on. Not too difficult for him, but he just nailed it. And like you said, it’s not just doing going from being the leader in one team and then being the lead out man. It’s the difference of sprinting like massively different to being that last man to where Kadum was sitting. So yeah, like full credit to him, but the team as well. I know it sounds ridiculous, but when you got a team like that around you, everything becomes so much easier. When you got a Vanderpole in front of you doing that job, it’s like come on. And he’s not even the last leadout man anymore. They have another lead out man and Ken Rose. It’s phenomenal. I bet the team are absolutely buzzing. And I know someone who’s headed off to the buses to find out exactly what that atmosphere is like. It is Hannah Walker. Hannah, talk to us. Good afternoon. Well, I’ve had to nail him down because he’s a man is who is in demand. Christoff Roof, congratulations. A stage victory there with Yasper Philips. The yellow jersey. What a dream start to this tour to France for Alpasinda Kernik. Yes, unbelievable. Uh we were there all day uh waiting for the right moment and then uh yeah when the split came we were there with five. So yeah amazing. Yes. When I spoke to you this morning you said you had to expect everything in a in a day like today and also play to your strengths, play your cards and it was incredible that that final the amount of riders you had in the split as well. Yes, but we were there all day trying to save energy but being uh where we had to be all the time uh trying to keep control of the situation for ourselves then and uh yeah as said when the slit split came Shumba was also there unoix we were there and speed was high and it was done for everybody just quickly a 10th stage victory for Yasper Philips in the tour to France a yellow jersey how much does this mean to the team to have the yellow jersey I know you’ve already had the green on the shoulders of Yasper you had already did the yellow 11 days. So, uh we know what it means actually. Um but for a team like ours, it’s it’s it’s the highest goal we can achieve actually. Incredible victory. Enjoy these celebrations. Thanks a lot, Kristoff. Bob, come with me because the team who set all of the racing alike today are the team who are just next to Alpasinda Kerning. It’s Bisma Lisa Bike. And what a a stage that was. You can see behind me how busy it is here. team cars who are just arriving from the the convoy. You’ve got Jacob Alula coming through here, but also Lewis Asi just going through the the shot just there. Come with me. Let’s try and see if we can actually get in to the scrum of of Visma Lisa bike. To give you a little look as to what it looks like and what the riders are doing immediately after a stage because I’m not quite sure if you can see just over my right hand shoulder, we’ve got Eduardo Afini who’s already on the turbo trainer. Also, Mateo Jorgensson was there moments ago. Yas finger on the far side. I don’t know if you can just see right over in the the far side there. He was one of the riders who started all of the the echelons Visma Lisa bike. I don’t know about you guys in the studio, but that was incredible. They came with a real plan and you could see how nervous it was. Hannah, I wonder how close you can get. And I know we’re asking you to be quite cheeky, but we always do this, don’t we? Um, we saw you getting in the thick of it at the Jerro Italian. We can see from here and we all know the experience the difference between the Jurro and the Tour to France. But you can see the difference in the in the crowds in the sheer volume of people. Give us a sense of just how much bigger the tour to France is on the ground for anyone who saw you doing all of this at the Geodal. Yeah. While you try to get your mic in and while you’re at it dialing in between, [Music] it’s far bigger, I have to say, because if you take a look, you’ve got so many fans, you’ve got lots of VIPs, you’ve got partners, you’ve got sponsors who are here, fans who have been able to get into into the paddock. If you just take a look over my shoulder, it’s four or five deep just behind me. And this is all the way down the bus area. And we’re a few hundred meters away from the finish line here. So these people, these fans have been waiting here for hours to make sure that they can have the spot outside their favorite team bus to make sure that they can get the view of of their favorite riders and just to to celebrate and support fans who’ve got jerseys on, they’ve got t-shirts. They’re just soaking up all of this atmosphere. And for many of course because it started and finished here in Le everybody’s hung around and they’ve been waiting. Hannah can you see Quickstep is Quickstep nearby you at all? So I want to go see Remco if you can get him with Remco or someone around Remco’s bus cuz obviously he lost around 40 seconds today. So they’re right down the far end. Should I get running shoes on? Yeah, get them running shoes on honey. Get down there. Get running. Get running. Let’s see if I can see them. I can see group armor. American CXDS Aana we’ve had Aana this Elvis in this side just going through the shot there tude can we just get a quick start he’s running off he’s going back to the the hotel teachard already done the warm down back to to the hotel also Victor Camponaut’s just behind me here as they ride past you there I know it’s really hard to tell but you’re hanging around the bus you can see them as they’re cooling down what’s the vibe do you think it’s just a case of okay steady steady ready. We survived all of that. Good job. What’s the atmosphere like around that team bus in particular at Vizma Lisa bike? I think they were of course very happy. They they’ve gained some time on on their rivals and immediately when we saw Matteo Jorgensson who was warming down also when Jonas Wingore came to to warm down Panu came to to Jorgensson and they were already dissecting what was going on the the situation on the road what had happened. Obviously, they’re delighted with with the situation of of how it’s uh how it’s all unfolded. Seuss a winner of the VTO Espania, the the Spanish Grand Tour just going past and rolling back to to the hotel. Now, let’s just try and see if we can get a word with one of the the sports directors here. Come with come with me. Let’s see where they uh where they all are, if they’re in the team cars or not. Perhaps over here. Here we can see Arthur Hannah as you’re walking through just uh you’ve seen some of the riders maybe still be a couple there but from what you have seen what what are you able to read off the faces the the type of day the riders have had I mean how are they they looking as they came past you thousand yard stairs. Yes. Yes. Particularly those who were in that second group and the third group that was over 2 minutes down because especially for for Jonathan Milan you saw Yeah. Of course disappointment. he was hoping to try and come here. He had one of the the strongest teams particularly for the the lead out and perhaps on paper one of arguably the strongest teams for him and of course he was in that that second group over over 30 seconds down. So for him uh a big opportunity was was lost but I think it was very stressful, chaotic, nervous. I mean we saw that didn’t we throughout the the whole stage and I think also for for staff members this morning it was quite tensive. They were we’re all nervous because of what’s at stake and Robbie you know what it’s like particularly going into an opening stage of the tour to France and and also you uh Michael too there in the studio how stressful it is and and the the nerves and the chaos and particularly the the windy conditions but it was yeah definitely stressful thousand yards there difficult day already to to open up stage Monty.