The opening road stage of the Tour de France may have witnessed some crashes today in Denmark, but they weren't the mass-injury events seen in some recent years and none of the top GC men lost time.
However, while the more controlled racing resulted in a calmer day overall, there were still some tense little moments; with riders and teams under pressure to perform clashing with their rivals.
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At one point on the 202km stage to Nyborg, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) got involved in an incident with EF Education-EasyPost's Ruben Guerreiro. Küng was apparently remonstrating with him as he believed the Portuguese rider was constantly looking around him in a dangerous manner.
During the incident, with 36km to go, Küng reached out and grabbed Guerreiro's helmet, holding onto it for a moment before the incident dissipated. Küng was fined 500 Swiss Francs and docked 20 UCI ranking points.
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In another incident, Christophe Laporte (Jumbo Visma) wasn't afraid to muscle Tour de France champion, and race favourite, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) out of his way.
The Jumbo Visma team was massing at the front, with just over 70km to go, when it appeared Pogačar was trying to squeeze his way into their line. Laporte twice nudged Pogačar to the right, away from his team, before taking his right hand off the handlebars and giving him a shove, albeit a gentle one.
Laporte's team mates, Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard, are of course Pogačar's biggest rivals for the final yellow jersey when the race concludes in Paris in three weeks time.
