Here’s the snap report for stage one, with Jeremy Whittle’s piece to follow later, including news of the walking wounded.
Here’s a glimpse of that crash, but it looks as though G has got off lightly. Far better than than Jakob Fuglsang and Dylan Groenewegen, of course. Thomas has form for falling. Or at least he used to.
😲 Bad news: Geraint Thomas was among the fallers in this dramatic crash towards the end of stage one of the Tour de France!
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) July 6, 2019
😅 Good news: He got quickly back on his bike! #TDF2019 #TDF pic.twitter.com/7avpGIe3Bo
Good stats from the excellent Inner Ring again.
Teunissen is first Dutch rider to wear yellow for 30 years, last time was Erik Breukink winning the prologue of the 1989 Tour de France https://t.co/zOsgGgXWaF
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 6, 2019
Caleb Ewan also fell short at the finish. Viviani, given a decent lead-out by his Quickstep team, looks to have continued his indifferent form.
Top-10 on Stage 1 #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/ymyLdDi5nQ
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 6, 2019
Teunissen, the stage winner and the man now in yellow, has a few words just before he is presented with the jersey, a huge smile on his face. Eddy Merckx - who else? - hands over the maillot jaune.
I cannot believe it. We were working for months for Dylan Groenewegen to win the stage. At 1.5k, he disappeared as he got caught up in the crash. I am still there and I am still fresh, I could see people dying and even catching up.
Photo-finish 📸
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2019
Victory for @MikeTeunissen 🏅
Victoire pour @MikeTeunissen 🏅#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/p1K5ybRqg4
Updated
Groenewegen went over his handlebars, and looked gutted. That was his chance of a yellow jersey gone. Instead, his teammate takes the jersey. It seems like Jakob Fuglsang might have even been caught up in it, after his earlier fall. How’s your luck? Peter Sagan will end the day in green, and probably stay there. Here’s some potted results.
Win for Jumbo - Visma despite the crash to Groenewegen ...
— VeloUK Cycling Mag (@AussieLarry) July 6, 2019
46. Adam Yates
110. Alex Dowsett
111. Geraint Thomas
121. Dan Martin
More soon ... pic.twitter.com/FMHEoZy4xm
Updated
The Tour is the Tour and just as expected the day to be sedate there was a major crash - of which more later - and the shock of Sagan being beaten by someone who was supposed to be leading out for Dylan Groenewegen, who was lost in the carnage, one of the fallers.
.@MikeTeunissen takes the win! 🏆
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2019
Mike Teunissen s'impose à la photofinish ! 🏆#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/cp1mXdJC3Z
How close can you get?!#TDF2019 #TheBreakaway pic.twitter.com/qSZ4Nq23r2
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) July 6, 2019
Updated
Sagan beaten on the line! Mike Teunissen steals it!
Here comes the sprint. Sagan looks comfortable, but there is a long way to go. Michael Matthews is at the front, and then Sagan hits the front. Did he get there? No! A surge from Mike Teunissen, usually a lead-out rider for Team Jumbo–Visma takes the stage win in a photo finish.
Updated
2 km to go: Alaphilippe takes to the front to lead out Quickstep for Viviani, with Sagan boxed in. Oh, there’s a crash, a big pile-up. Geraint’s gone down! Oof, drama!
Updated
3 km to go: Britain’s Alex Dowsett takes the lead for a while, leading his Katusha team out. Whose lead-out will be the best? With no Cav around, this is alien territory.
4 km to go: These are big, sweeping bends, and the speed is breakneck.
5 km to go: OK, here we go, a mix of trying to stay safe and risking all for the peloton. Sagan is lurking with intent, tucked in behind his team.
8 km to go: Brussels’ boulevards look resplendent as the peloton powers through them. Rossetto has been swallowed up, and the day is set for a sprint, barring a wildcat breakaway.
10 km to go: The lead is 20 seconds. Well, at least Rossetto will get the award for most aggressive rider. He will soon be swallowed up by the pack. Fuglsang’s knee is getting the magic spray. Looks like his race could be over before it had even begun. He’s 34, too, and this was his year, in such rich form, too.
12 km to go: Rossetto is down to 40 seconds as a lead. The pack is speeding along. Damiano Caruso looks bashed up after that prang, and in a delicate, if fleshy place. Worryingly, Fuglsang is testing out his knee.
15 km to go: Quickstep are leading the group with Jumbo–Visma. Tony Martin, though, is not with them, having got stuck in traffic. Jakob Fuglsang, one of those mentioned as a favourite, has blood spilling down his face, having got caught up in the tail end of that prang. His Astana teammates are around him, the winner of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Criterium de Dauphiné races. There’s always one big rider who gets bashed up on the early stages. And there will probably be more.
Fuglsang's up and riding but has blood running down his face, his jersey ripped on the shoulder
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 6, 2019
Updated
18 km to go: The crowds are huge as the last 20km are entered, and there’s been a fall in the field. It doesn’t look too serious, and the four or five riders who came to a stop are all back on. Damiano Caruso of Bahrain-Merida was one of them.
22 km to go: Rossetto’s lead is dwindling, and so we enter the phoney war where the teams try to get their ducks in a row for the sprint. The Mur and the Bosberg aside, it’s not been particularly arduous out there.
Updated
25 km to go: How about this for a primer on the current leader, Stephane Rossetto.
Rossetto in the lead. In March, descending Col de Braus in hills behind Nice, a cat ran out. He crashed, fracturing pelvis in 3 places. With nobody around to help, he rode back to his apartment in Menton & then used a stepladder as a makeshift crutch to get himself to hospital
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 6, 2019
30 km to go: Rossetto’s lead is down a little, and taking under 1’ 30”. This is his first ever day in the saddle on the Tour and he is clearly keen to make an impression. Brussels beckons, and the race is on the outskirts of the capital city.
The Tour newbie @StephanRossetto has just broken away! 💨
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2019
Le néophyte du Tour @StephanRossetto vient de sortir en solitaire ! 💨#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/bOjfZwcICr
James Cavell on, well, Cav: “I understand that fans are unhappy about Cavendish’s non-selection but you’d expect a man in the sort of form capable of contesting sprints in the Tour (and getting over the mountains) might have done rather better than 22nd in a sprinter- friendly British Championship a week before the Tour started. Winning that race would not only have demonstrated some form but also gained favour with selectors as national champion jerseys tend to be popular with sponsors in big races as they stand out.”
Jeremy Whittle’s tour diary is here for your delight and delectation. All diaries must mention Love Island.
The famous Belgian question no longer stops at Eddy Merckx and Hergé.
Unbelievable to be at the start of @LeTour 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ETRRU5fp2O
— Jan Vertonghen (@JanVertonghen) July 6, 2019
Guy Hornsby emails in: “Afternoon, John. I share the disbelief that Cav has been left out by Dimension Data. Yes, he had a difficult 2018, mostly explained by the Epstein-Barr virus, and he’s no spring chicken, but he built his season towards the Tour, and so that’s baffling enough until you include the absence of the team’s main GC contender, and you have to ask, Cummings aside, what do they have instead? It an absolute mess, and as a huge fan of his, I’m gutted here’s not there for another tilt at 34 wins. A big loss to the race.”
They seem to think that Cummings, the breakaway genius but now 38, has a better chance of winning a stage. And there will be more to come on what happened behind the scenes.
45 km to go: We are in the vicinity of Waterloo as headline writers ready themselves for the fall of a major contender. Those dodgy roads may well fell a favourite. Can only assume the local highways agency has been sent to St Helena.
50 km to go: Plenty of doings at the back of the field as teams prepare themselves for the final 50 clicks. A few comfort breaks and domestiques piling back for supplies. The team cars are being busy. Julian Alaphilippe is among those heading back to get his food and bottles then motors after the pack. There is a lone breakaway from Stephane Rossetto, the Frenchman who performed a solo run at the Tour de Yorkshire last year and prevailed. It has to be said that the road is not in the best state. Rossetto has 1’ 42” on the field.
Updated
65 km to go: There is gap of around 1’ 20” between the two main groups in the field but with Bora–Hansgrohe, Sagan’s team, sitting up, it won’t last long. It might, though, burn up some petrol ahead of the sprint at the finish.
68 km to go: First sprint of the day and Peter Sagan wins it, as expected. He took 20 points for that and was pretty much unchallenged as he took it, ahead of Sonny Colbrelli, Greg van Avermaet and Michael Matthews. Sagan could be in the green jersey from wire to wire here. He’s heading for a record seventh, overtaking Erik Zabel in the process.
Peter Sagan is aiming for Yellow today, but it hasn't stopped the 6-time winner of the Green Jersey from taking the first points on #TDF2019.#TDFdata pic.twitter.com/yjFwnnKoYs
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 6, 2019
Updated
70 km to go: Les Bon Villers will be the scene of that intermediate sprint. There are splits in the field. Quickstep drop back to pull Viviani in.
72km to go: Here’s some serious cobbles, and they are boneshaking stuff. Viviani, one of the favourites for the sprint later, give or take an indifferent season, is forced off his bike and has to be given a new one. There is an intermediate sprint ahead and the group’s push for that has pulled in the breakaway. Alexander Kristoff, another sprinter, had a problem, too.
It’s worth mentioning that the women’s Giro d’Italia, the Giro Rosa, is being held at the moment. It runs from yesterday, Friday, to next Sunday. CL, our expert has very kindly emailed in to inform us of what happened on Stage Two.
Giro Rosa stage 2, 6 July – 78.3km hilly circuit, Viù
Results:
1: Marianne Vos
2: Annemiek van Vleuten
3 : Lucinda Brand
After a first breakaway by Anna Christoforou and Sofie de Vuyst, who hoovered up the day’s QoM, and a second breakaway only caught late on, the last few kilometres featured several attacks before the stage was won by the magnificent Marianne Vos, followed by Annemiek van Vleuten and Lucinda Brand. Kasia Niewiadoma keeps the pink jersey.
Thanks, CL.
83 km to go: Here’s some more cobbles, and the sound of some creaking wheels. Remember five years ago, when Chris Froome fell off even before they reached the cobbles? He’s an all-time great, but there has always been something of the Frank Spencer about him.
Fred Atkins responds to Gareth Thomas.
@JohnBrewin_ Has anyone broken it to him who Team Sky were owned by? pic.twitter.com/LP0VISTOdO
— Fred_Atkins@Back-Page-Media (@media_back) July 6, 2019
A major discussion point this week has been the absence of Mark Cavendish, who now looks likely to be stuck on 30 stage wins, and never to overtake Eddy Merckx’s record of 34. That news escaped not long before the deadline for naming teams.
As Jeremy Whittle, our reporter out at Le Tour says, his axing by Dimension Data has not been handled too well.
Not sure how much time Dimension Data have spent discussing how to handle Cav-gate but based on the various convos at the start this morning with the media, there's a distinct lack of joined-up thinking.
— Jeremy Whittle (@jeremycwhittle) July 6, 2019
Extraordinary story developing at Dimension Data around Mark Cavendish non-selection. Ryder says at bus it was a "team decision". Rolf Aldag then comes out and says it was totally Ryder's call. In Aldag's opinion Cavendish going better than in 2016 (when he won 4 stages) 1/2
— Tom Cary (@tomcary_tel) July 6, 2019
Hearing Aldag so angry he may even quit race today. Team denied he had left already 2/2
— Tom Cary (@tomcary_tel) July 6, 2019
Rolf Aldag, the sporting director, did start the stage today, by the way.
Updated
90 km to go: Not much happening right now so time to look back. This type of action looks a certainty for today’s finish.
⏪ Throwback to 2010, when Alessandro Petacchi won in Brussels after a hectic sprint, which saw 2 crashes inside the final kilometre!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2019
⏪ En 2010, Alessandro Petacchi s'était imposé à Bruxelles après un sprint houleux marqué par 2 chutes dans le dernier kilomètre.#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/86mpKKslIV
Updated
95 km to go: The three riders at the front are whipping along through the Walloon countryside. The gap is still two minutes or so. Back in the pack, those Ineos jerseys are to the fore. We might be getting used to that sight over the next three weeks.
Gareth Thomas writes in from Spain: “I’m still not sure who to support this year, having been a Sky supporter for years. Like other British cycling fans I know here in Spain, I cannot support Brailsford’s team any longer – advertising Ineos - due to environmental objections. I will be backing Movistar now. Some British exSky fans I know are not even watching the TDF this year. How much are you picking up on these concerns from cycling fans in France?”
It will be interesting to see how the public responds to the rebranded Team Sky; they were about as popular as Donald Trump in France last year. Ineos are certainly a source of controversy over here.
100 km to go: Bradley Wiggins looked a bit harried on the back of that motorbike, as they sped after the breakaway. He’s more a scooter boy, what with him being a mod and into Paul Weller, the Merton Parkas, Ocean Colour Scene and the Blow Monkeys and all that.
Unless you are lucky enough to head to L’Hexagone to catch a bit of the race, then it’s likely you will be watching this year’s Tour from your desk or armchair, as Barry Glendenning captures here. Like him, I am a fan of Sean Kelly’s minimalist style, phrases like “Tour of France” and “the general classement” delivered in that flat Waterford accent are the sounds of a mid-summer. David Millar’s more mid-Atlantic, international baccalauréat tones are also a winner in the UK. And, someone who will be missed by the worldwide crowd is Paul Sherwen, who died in December, and broke up decades of partnership with Phil Liggett.
110 km to go: A report that Simon Yates suffered a mechanical at the back of the peloton, just before the Mur, but he’s back in the pack now. The source of that report: Stone Roses fan Bradley Wiggins, who is working as a roving reporter on the back of a motorbike.
Richard Parker wants to know about Chris Froome: “Any news on the Kenyan-born cyclist?”
Well, he has finally been allowed home after proving that blowing your nose on a windy day is probably not a good idea.
120 km to go: It’s a leading trio now, with Van Avermaet having bounced himself back into the pack, and the gap is decreasing down to 1’ 30”. He will have the polka dot jersey when the presentations are made later. Berhane, Wurz and Meuriise continue out front but not for long.
Updated
125 km to go: That gap is around 1’ 50”, which suggests the peloton is not making much effort to chase down. Looks like being a pretty sedate stage, and a sprint almost guaranteed. Time, then, to consider the contenders, with Egan Bernal, though he is just 22, one of the most fancied.
135 km to go: The gap is closing down little by little, which suggest Van Avermaet and co will soon be done for the day. The two climbs were captured by two Belgians so that’s mission accomplished for them.
145 km to go: The pavé on the Bosberg looks treacherous, and Meurisse pips Van Avermaet at the top. The two Belgians had dropped the other two members of that breakaway quartet but Van Avermaet has dropped back. Again, the peloton ease up the climb, and we have a long wait until the next climb, at Les Bons Villers.
Updated
150 km to go: Van Avermaet wins on the Mur! Berhane goes off first, but is quickly reeled back in. Van Avermaet, hauls him back in, reels him back in. Berhane goes off the back and Mads Würz, and Xando Meurisse push Van Avermaet all the way but, and as expected, he takes the two points. That was short, but sharp.
The gap, by the way, has already dropped to 2’ 25”, though the peloton is easing through Gramont. Now for the Bosberg.
🇧🇪 @GregVanAvermaet does not let anyone contest him the points at the top of the Mur de Grammont.
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2019
🇧🇪 Van Avermaet ne laisse aucune chance à ses compagnons d'échappée au sommet du Mur de Grammont. #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/vzpEuXlm6e
Updated
152 km to go: The leading quartet are dropping into Gramont, which is teeming with fans as they begin the climb and hit the cobbles.
Just under five kilometres until we get to the Mur, which is where the fun can begin.
Bradley Wiggins can feel the earth begin to move, hear his needle hit the groove.
Name a better duo. We'll wait 😍#TheBreakaway #TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/a5lMt4XWm6
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) July 6, 2019
Shaun Clapperton emails in: “Hi John, don’t kick yourself for not mentioning Roberto Uran as a contender for Le Tour. Kick yourself for not mentioning Rigoberto Uran.”
I think I got all confused with Roberto Duran, hands of stone and all that. No mas. Now, what is the Anglicised version of Rigoberto/Rigobert?
Updated
William Fotheringham, in his stage-by-stage guide, suggests the Mur is going to be little more than garnish.
The Tour starts with a loop southwards through Flanders into Wallonia and back, with two cobbled climbs celebrated as part of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Bosberg, and one stretch of pavé near Charleroi. These all come too early to have any serious impact so the peloton will be jostling for a bunch sprint as they tackle a finale that includes the towns of Waterloo – a gift for the headline writers – and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, childhood home of Eddy Merckx. Sprint favourites will include Caleb Ewan and André Greipel.
170 km to go: We are 20 clicks or so from the Mur de Grammont, a steep, cobbled climb you may recognise from the Tour of Flanders. The gap is 3’ 15” or so to the peloton, probably not enough to stay away from the Classics specialists. In Flemish, since you’re asking, it’s called the Muur van Geraardsbergen.
And here’s ‘The Cannibal’ on the 1969 Tour we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of, and the 17th stage: Luchon to Mourenx, where he seized control in the mountains.
Let’s share some Eddy Merckx memories as we are celebrating the great man this weekend.
180km to go: The breakaway group already have over three minutes on the main field.
Gavin Laverty has an outside bet for you. “Just read the preamble. Speaking of coming forces that never quite came, what do you feel about Tejay van Garderen’s chances this year. He did have a half decent criterium but is 80-1 for Le tour!”
It looks like he is in the role of super-domestique for Roberto Rigoberto Uran, another contender I didn’t mention but who knows this year?
Updated
187 km to go: There’s the rather unseemly sight of a horde of riders taking a comfort break by the side of the road; they must have overdone the fluids in their preparations.
💨 The race is now underway, with already a lot of riders on the attack!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 6, 2019
💨 La course est bien lancée, avec déjà des coureurs qui se ruent à l'attaquent !#TDF2019 pic.twitter.com/eaKJszDjOo
Updated
And they're off!
Here comes three weeks of pain. There’s an attempted breakaway from the start from Team Katusha, with Greg Van Avermaet, Natnael Berhane, Mads Würtz Schmidt and Xando Meurisse. Two Belgians in there look like they fancy a go from Kilometre 0 in their home country. The other two are an Eritrean and a Dane.
The peloton sits up a bit and lets that group of four go away. It’s lively on the streets of Brussels, where the public will see the finish later this afternoon.
Updated
Here’s the route for today while the riders are going through the ceremonials with a ride through a sunny Brussels, before the départ réel can begin in a kilometre or so.
Preamble
Bonjour. We go again, though there is many an absent friend not on this year’s Tour. No Tom Dumoulin. No Chris Froome. No Mark Cavendish. And the Sky Train will have to be renamed the rather unwieldy Ineos Train. Still, there’s always G, as in Geraint Thomas the defending champion. To call him a surprise winner last year is something of an understatement, and there is the possibility he will be on the end of a similar overturning of team orders as that which he performed last year with Froome. Egan Bernal hauled the dear, departed Sky Train over the mountains last season, burying himself in the process. With Froome having to become one of the oldest ever winners to make five Tours if he comes back next year - itself not guaranteed - and G 33 himself, the 22-year-old has time and talent on his side.
Who are the other contenders? This is a highly open field, with former winner Vincenzo Nibali perhaps fancying a, er, nibble, then there’s Nairo Quintana, the coming force who never managed to get away far enough on the mountains. And Thibaut Pinot, who has a puncher’s chance of becoming the first French winner since Bernard Hinault in 1985. So, perhaps, has Romain Bardet. That is not an exhaustive list of the possibilities.
This weekend, though, with its pootle through Belgium, is a tribute to Eddy Merckx, this being the 50th anniversary of his first win of five Tours. Merckx was “the cannibal” who ate his rivals for breakfast, probably the best rider of all during the spell from 1969 to 1974, before he suddenly pegged out in 1975. Today’s stage takes us through some Classic-style cobbles - pavé, if you will - and a couple of small but troublesome climbs - the Bosberg and ‘the Muur’ - and then back to Belgium’s capital for waffles, animal-strength beer and most likely a sprint. Elia Viviani, Dylan Groenewegen, Peter Sagan and Andre Griepel are the men expected to be dipping for the line.
