Marcel Kittel starts the Tour de France just as he did the Giro d'Italia in May, his arms aloft in triumph. He takes stage 1 into Harrogate today from Peter Sagan and Ramunas Navardauskas (Photo: Sirotti)
Ireland's sole representative in this year's Tour de France, Nicolas Roche has come through the opening stage today unscathed after a finale when others hit the deck, some of them very hard.
The big winner was German speedster Marcel Kittel; the Giant Shimano man opening his Tour as he had done his Giro back in May, with his hands aloft in triumph on the opening from Leeds to Harrogate.
He emerged from a testing bunch sprint finale that saw Briton Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) fall hard in the closing sprint after he barged Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEdge) in the tussle for positioning in the last 100 metres.
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Both were carted off to hospital and while it was feared Cavendish had broken his collarbone, he suffered ligament ruptures with an AC-joint dislocation and there is a chance he may start stage 2 tomorrow, with Gerrans suffering bad road rash and committed to battling on.
Today's stage was characterised by a three-man breakaway featuring Jens Voigt (Trek), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) and Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne).
However, while they got clear immediately the race started, they were never let get too far, building a lead around the three minute mark; nowhere enough to hold off the peloton.
Voigt would drop the other two as he went in search of maximum points in the two cat 3 ascents on the course, which he gathered along with the climbers’ jersey. But he was eventually caught just after taking the final climb.
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In lumpy run-in, it was Voigt's team mate Fabien Cancellara who went for a solo attack on the rise around 1km from the finish. But while he opened a gap it was nowhere near enough to bring him stage victory, with Kittel pouncing for the win and the first yellow jersey of this year's race.
Ireland's Roche finished in the bunch, in 46th place and credited with the same time as the winner.
Tomorrow's stage 2 is a difficult 201km from York to Sheffield that could shake up the race more than expected and see some of the general classification contenders to the fore.
July 5th to 27th: Tour de France
Stage 1: Leeds to Harrogate (190.5km)
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano 4:44:07
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale
3 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Garmin - Sharp
4 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Team Europcar
5 Michael Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo
6 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
7 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Team Katusha
8 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Belkin Pro Cycling
9 José Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica Greenedge
11 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing
12 Paul Voss (Ger) Team Netapp-Endura
13 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team
14 Martin Elmiger (Swi) IAM Cycling
15 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
16 Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica Greenedge
17 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
18 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol
19 Koen De Kort (Ned) Team Giant-Shimano
20 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
21 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling
22 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo
23 Tiago Machado (Por) Team Netapp-Endura
24 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
25 Janier Alexis Acevedo Calle (Col) Garmin - Sharp
46 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Tinkoff-Saxo
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