It was an opening stage to forget for Soudal-Quick Step, which in Lille did not see its riders among the best. Merlier was supposed to be at the front for the sprint and was nowhere to be seen, and Remco Evenepoel, the man for the general classification, has already lost several seconds from his rivals. "You cannot lose seconds like this on the first day of the Tour" – said an angry Soudal-Quick Step CEO Jurgen Foré – "We didn't come here to get this result, they were all too far away".

Soudal-Quick Step is traditionally one of the best teams at moving in the race when there are wind gusts. They have always skillfully created the famous echelons to move forward, but this time, they were the only ones absent and must collect a decidedly negative result.

"We came here with a team of men suitable to avoid this type of situation and we lost an opportunity with Tim Merlier in a perfect stage for him and lost precious time with Remco Evenepoel, who is now behind the other leaders".

Wind gusts swept away the Belgian team, one of the most anticipated for the first stage. Now, in the general classification, Remco Evenepoel is 49" behind Philipsen and 39" behind Pogacar and Vingegaard.

"There is disappointment, but today we race again. This is not a video game, and this is the difficulty found in a race like this. At the Tour, those who make mistakes are immediately punished. Now we must put everything in a drawer and close it. We'll open a new one and we'll have to throw ourselves into the mix".

The team's technicians are not too worried and believe that Evenepoel will have several opportunities to recover and, already with the second stage, something important could happen.

Today there will be a stage for classics riders, with a finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer that will offer a succession of three steep climbs in less than 30 kilometers. The first will be the Côte du Haut-Pichot (1.1 km at 9.4%), then the Côte de Saint-Étienne-au-Mont (1 km at 10.6% with sections at 15%) and finally the Côte d'Outreau (800 m at 8.8%). Then, before arriving in Boulogne-sur-Mer, there will be a slight uphill (1.2 km at 3.8%). The last 50 kilometers will have very narrow roads and a constant alternation of left and right curves, hills, changes of direction, and wind that could make the race nervous.