Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage of the Tour de France after an excellent lead out from Mathieu van der Poel and Kaden Groves.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider’s sprint was imperious, crossing the line three bike lengths ahead of Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) in second, with Søren Wærenskold (Uno-X Mobility) in third place.
Philipsen’s stage victory seemed a certainty as the race entered the closing 900m. Uno-X Mobility had lead the race into the with two kilometres to go, but the Belgian squad steamrollered them, Van der Poel coming to the front after the final turn of the run in.
A late and long move from Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) briefly looked as if it might scupper Philipsen’s hopes, but he and his team were too strong and the Belgian rider will take the race’s first leader’s yellow jersey.
The victory came after a chaotic opening stage, with crosswinds and crashes wreaking havoc, causing some of the sprinters to be dropped and pre-race favourites, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) losing time when Visma-Lease a Bike put the race in the gutter inside the final 20km.
The win was a 10th Tour stage victory for Philipsen, who was understandably delighted.
“It’s really amazing, this 10 victory is something I will never forget,” the Belgian said. “The team performance was just incredible I think. We were there all day all day was very nervous, but we were there in the split and in the end we could use our strength be there and finish it off.
“I already had a green jersey from two years ago and then to have the yellow jersey hanging somewhere in my house in the next years is going to be amazing.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
The 112th edition of the Tour de France started with a punchy 184.9km stage starting and finishing in Lille, in the country’s far north-east. Heading in a clockwise loop, the peloton first rode south-west, into a headwind, before looping north, returning to Lille running parallel to the Belgian border.
There were three fourth category classified climbs, with the final two, Côte de Cassel and Mont Noir both regular features on Four Days of Dunkirk.
After a long neutralised roll out, the attacks came immediately, a strong group of five five men escaping with no objections from the peloton, half of whom stopped for a comfort break.
With just 10km done four Frenchmen, Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Mattéo Vercher (Total Energies), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Bruno Amirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and one Belgian, Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) had a lead of two minutes, while Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck led the bunch.
The first climb of the entire Tour, the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette came after 40km, by which time the breakaway’s advantage had settled at two minutes.
The fight for the race’s first mountains points started early, Amirail attacking with almost a kilometre of the short, steep climb to go. The French time trial champion miscalculated hugely though, crossing the line last among his breakaway companions, while Thomas took the one point.
With the course now taking the race north, the riders entered a very long stretch of crosswinds, the wind blowing at around 30kph from the west across the open fields. This brought a lift in the peloton’s pace, the leaders’ advantage coming down to just one minute with 133km remaining, when Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Sean Flynn (PIcnic-PostNL) suffered the Tour’s first crash.
With 120km to go and the open countryside combining with the high winds to threaten echelon havoc, the GC teams of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Soudal Quick-Step and Visma-Lease a Bike headed to the front of the race. Under their pressure the pace lifted even further, bringing the leaders within 30 seconds and dropping some riders from the bunch. Among those was Critérium du Dauphiné stage winner, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), who continued to struggle through the day.
Sure enough, with such high pace, the five man breakaway was caught with just over 100km of the stage remaining, the pace easing slightly ahead of the stage’s only intermediate sprint, eventually won by Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). This slight lull allowed most of the dropped riders to get back on, and two of the original break to get up the road once more.
Vercher and Thomas had a lead of one minute as they reached Mont Cassel, the day’s second classified climb. It looked as though Vacher was about to take the one available mountains point on the cobbled climb, but Thomas came past, his back wheel kicking out violently on the stones, causing the Cofidis rider to crash, taking Vercher out as he did so and the pair were caught before they could remount.
Soon after, it emerged that Filippo Ganna had abandoned the race after his earlier crash, becoming the first to leave the race. As the Italian climbed in the car, the race settled, and with no breakaway it entered a period of relative calm, though Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was also forced to abandon after an earlier crash.
Though relatively calm, the pace remained high, pre-race favourite, Jonas Vignegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) taking the honours on the final climb, as the race flew into the closing 40km, the bunch complete.
With 17km to go and after a right turn Visma-Lease a Bike took upped the pace in cross winds, splitting the bunch in a stage defining move. Pre-race GC favourites Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) were caught out, as were some of the sprinters, including Evenepoel’s team mate, Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).
As the race entered the closing 10km, Alpecin-Deceuninck led the leading group, hoping to position working for Philipsen, while the gap to the Evenepoel group continued to grow. Cooperation in the leading group never faltered as they headed into Lille for the bunch sprint. There, Uno-X Mobility tried to dominate, but it was Alpecin-Deceuninck had too much muscle.
Sunday’s second stage is the longest of the entire race, covering 209.1km between Lauwin-Planque and Boulogne-sur-Mer. Despite the seaside finish, the bunch will tackle well over 2,000m of vertical ascent, and, with the last two of the four classified climbs coming inside the final 10km, a sprint finish is far from a nailed on certainty and the yellow jersey may change hands.
RESULTS
TOUR DE FRANCE, STAGE ONE: LILLE MÉTROPOLE > LILLE MÉTROPOLE (184.9KM)
1. Jasper Philipsen (Belgium) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 3:53:11
2. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty
3. Søren Wærenskold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
4. Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies
5. Matteo Trentin (Italy) Tudor Pro Cycling
6. Clément Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7. Paul Penhoët (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Matteo Joregenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike
9. Marius Mayerhofer (Ger) Tudo Pro Cycling
10. Sam Watson (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE ONE
1. Jasper Philipsen (Belgium) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 3:53:01
2. Biniam Girmay (Eri) Intermarché-Wanty, +4s
3. Søren Wærenskold (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +6s
4. Anthony Turgis (Fra) TotalEnergies, +10s
5. Matteo Trentin (Italy) Tudor Pro Cycling
6. Clément Russo (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7. Paul Penhoët (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Matteo Joregenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike
9. Marius Mayerhofer (Ger) Tudo Pro Cycling
10. Sam Watson (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time
