Tour de France Stage One

Marcel Kittel won the opening stage of the Tour de France in front of a massive crowd which lined the entirety of the roads through the Yorkshire Dales. The Giant-Shimano rider won ahead of Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp) in a tricky sprint finish at the end of the 190.4km stage from Leeds to Harrogate.

The finale was disrupted by a crash which claimed the pre-stage favourite, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Australia’s Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE). Cavendish appeared to be in pole position for the final sprint until he made contact with Australian champion Gerrans and both came crashing down.

Cavendish came down hard on his shoulder and was seen grimacing and holding his collarbone while lying on the tarmac, before climbing gingerly to his feet and riding over the finish line one handed, cradling his right arm in his lap.

The race began when the Duchess of Cambridge cut the official start ribbon with the riders setting off on the opening 190.5km course from Leeds to Harrogate. The peloton continued another three kilometres up the road before Tour director Christian Prudhomme dropped the flag to officially start the 2014 Tour de France.

There was an immediate attack from Jens Voigt (Trek Factory Racing), the oldest rider in the race at 42. Voigt was joined by Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) crafting a lead of over three minutes. The German won the intermediate sprint with 113.4km remaining, dropped his companions and rode on until he was caught with least than 60km left to race. Voigt’s aggressiveness was rewarded with the first King of the Mountain jersey of this year’s Tour.

The peloton continued together through to the finish in Harrogate where the sprint was contested. Omega Pharma-Quick Step took the command with four kilometres to go but it was Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) who tried to steal the stage with an audacious attack inside the final kilometre. Shortly after Cancellara exhausted his effort, Cavendish and Gerrans collided, with the altercation bringing down both riders.

The crash left Kittel as the strongest remaining rider and he went on to easily out-sprint Sagan and take the first yellow jersey of the Tour.

Stage 2 sees the race head from York to Sheffield.

Stage 1: 190.4km, Leeds to Harrogate
1 Marcel Kittel (GER) Giant-Shimano 4hr 44min 7sec     
2 Peter Sagan (SVK) Cannondale           
3 Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU) Garmin-Sharp           
General classification
1 Marcel Kittel (GER) Giant-Shimano 4hr 44min 7sec     
2 Peter Sagan (SVK) Cannondale           
3 Ramunas Navardauskas (LTU) Garmin-Sharp           

For more details see www.letour.com/le-tour/2014/