Romain Bardet narrowly won the opening stage from a breakaway with teammate Frank van den Broek, five seconds ahead of the peloton, to earn the first yellow jersey.

Pogačar, who finished 6 minutes and 17 seconds ahead of two-time winner Vingegaard, became the first rider to win both the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia in the same year since Marco Pantani in 1998.

50 km (31 mi) from the finish line in Rimini, French rider Romain Bardet broke away from the leader's group with his teammate Frank van den Broek and held onto a slim lead on the peloton for the remainder of the race.

[13] Another Frenchman, Kévin Vauquelin, won the second stage, distancing rivals in the final 1.9 km (1.2 mi) climb (10.6% grade) up to the sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca in Bologna.

Nevertheless, it was Tadej Pogačar who finished the day with the yellow jersey, distancing Romain Bardet in the final ascent, with only Jonas Vingegaard keeping pace.

After 165 kilometres (103 mi), another French rider, Fabien Grellier, attempted a breakaway, only to be caught by the peloton in under half an hour.

The final sprint in Turin to reach the finish line caused a jumbled-up crash, which hurt the chances of some of the sprinters.

The Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay crossed the finish line first, becoming the first Black African to win a stage on the Tour.

The reigning Olympic road race champion Richard Carapaz finished the day atop the overall standings, becoming the first Ecuadorian to wear the Tour's yellow jersey.

Time bonuses gained on the Galibier and at the finish meant Pogačar held a 45-second overall lead over Evenepoel with Vingegaard third at 50 seconds.

[17] A windy stage 6 through the Burgundy vineyards from Mâcon to Dijon was won by a tire-width by Dylan Groenewegen in a sprint finish, while Pogačar maintained his overall lead.

In the subsequent sprint, Biniam Girmay took his second stage win of the race, followed by Jasper Philipsen and Arnaud De Lie.

A breakaway group was successful, with Frenchman Anthony Turgis winning the stage, Tom Pidcock coming second and Derek Gee third.

Jasper Philipsen won the stage, beating Girmay (wearing the green jersey) and Pascal Ackermann to the line, with no changes to the leaders in the overall standings.

Evenepoel and Roglič finished together in joint third, 25 seconds behind the leading pair, and 1m 47s ahead of a group of five led by Giulio Ciccone.

[26] Stage 14, 151.9 km (94.4 mi) from Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan (Pla d'Adet) in the Hautes Pyrenees, saw Pogačar increase his lead in the general classification.

This matched the number of stage wins by fellow sprinter and green jersey leader Girmay, who crashed on the run-in to the finish.

British rider Simon Yates attacked on the day's toughest climb, the Col du Noyer, but was caught by Carapaz.

Pogačar made a small attack but it only served to help third overall Evenepoel win back a few seconds in the general classification against a faltering Vingegaard.

However Carapaz, Simon Yates, and Matteo Jorgenson were overtaken by Pogačar on the final climb to Isola 2000 in the Mercantour Alps.