It’s been an incredible start to this year’s Tour de France.

It all began on Saturday with a fairy tale win for French cyclist Romain Bardet in his final Tour de France grabbing the maillot jaune for the first time.

His one-two with DSM-Firmenich-PostNL team-mate Franck van den Broek was the stuff of dreams but for Astana and particularly their team leader Sir Mark Cavendish, stage one was the stuff of nightmares.

Cavendish endured a torrid stage, blowing up early in the heat and dropped on the first climb, facing a difficult chase to make the time limit.

The Manx man’s experience came to the fore as he came in 39 minutes down on Bardet but crucially, 10 minutes inside of the time limit.

After stage one ended in success from a long range attack it would have been easy to assume that stage two would be decided from the peloton, however the break won out as Arkea-B&B Hotels rider Kevin Vaquelin took his first Grand Tour stage win.

Behind was where things were interesting with Tadej Pogacar attacking over the final climb and joined by his big rival and reigning Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard, with the two going clear.

Eventually they were caught by Remco Evenepoel, the world time-trial champion powering his way to Vingegaard’s back wheel in the closing stages, towing along EF Education-Easy Post’s Richard Carapaz.

The result saw Pogacar overcome his deficit of 15 seconds to Bardet to take the yellow jersey with himself, Evenepoel, Vingegaard and Carapaz now six seconds ahead of the Frenchman in the general classification.

Welsh Hopes Wilt In The Heat

Amidst all the chaos Welsh duo Geraint Thomas and Stevie Williams have struggled.

Williams lost significant time on stage one, finishing almost half an hour behind stage winner Bardet.

Speaking to S4C after the stage, Williams said: “It was a difficult day, a disappointing day.”

“The weather was horrible today and I didn’t cope well with it.

“My legs closed on the big climbs. Legs were empty and even in the first few kilometres I knew the heat would get the better of me.

“It was a horrible day.”

Williams is known for excelling in wet weather conditions, as seen at this year’s La Flèche Wallonne winning in a rain-affected race.

Stage two was a much better day for Williams and even he was surprised by his form after his struggles on day one.

“It was a good surprise for me,” said Williams.

“I felt I came back from yesterday. It was a good stage for the team with Hugo Houle in the breakaway and I tested the legs after yesterday.

“I’m happy to say I’m back to the normal level after a disappointing stage yesterday.

“Fortunately for me, I’m here to race for stages not the general classification but today gives me confidence going into the next few stages.

“The level here is really strong and it’s nice to get the weekend out of the way an look forward to next week.”

Thomas on the other hand finished within the main group on stage one, five seconds behind Bardet but lost significant time on day two finishing nearly seven minutes down on the winner and nearly four and a half minutes behind the general classification favourites.

The 2018 Tour de France champion finished third at the Giro d’Italia earlier in the year and came into the race in a supporting role for Carlos Rodriguez.

What’s Next For Welsh Pair?

Now both Thomas and Williams will be there to support their teammates in their General Classification or stage hunting ambitions whilst also looking to win a stage for themselves.

Both are strong climbers with Williams in particular possessing a strong kick while Thomas will be competitive in the time-trials.

Monday’s stage is pan flat and neither will be considered favourites but where can they possibly hope for a stage win?

Stage four on Tuesday is the first true mountain stage of the tour, but one would expect that to be a battle royale between Pogacar and Vingegaard and what follows after that are three flat stages either side of an individual time-trial.

Stage nine sees 14 gravel stages, however even that might seem unlikely for a stage win for either Welsh rider meaning they may have to wait for week two and the mountains of stage 11.

If the breakaway can stay away, it looks like a good pick for Williams to target with a third category climb not long before the finish giving the opportunity for a punchy attack.

Thomas may look towards the mountain top finishes of stage 14 and 15, although much will depend on the intentions of Pogacar and Vingegaard with the former having already won 11 stages at the tour and took six stage wins at the Giro d’Italia.

Whatever happens, it may be a case of patience for the Welsh duo to succeed as Thomas searches for stage win number four and Williams his first on debut.