2019 Tour de France Stage 1 Results & Recap
Stage 1 of the 2019 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Teunissen upsets favourites in Brussels\nBy Clara Beard
Mike Teunissen (Jumbo Visma) gave Dutch cycling fans something to cheer for in Brussels after outsprinting Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the opening stage of the Tour de France. The 26-year-old cyclocross rider was initially the lead-out rider for stage favorite, Dylan Groenewegen, but plans changed after a late crash in the front of the bunch dashed the sprinter’s chances.
"Our plan was ruined when Dylan [Groenewegen] crashed,” Teunissen said after the stage. “I couldn’t clearly see if he went down but when I realized he did, I was still able to sprint. I was feeling fresh as we didn’t do much before the sprint. Wout [van Aert] was still with me. It’s a really strange day because our goal vanished in a second. I hope Dylan smiles as I replaced him for the win. It’ll take me a few days to understand what’s happening to me, especially with the yellow jersey, but we have another big goal with the team tomorrow."
With a desperate lunge to the line, Teunissen nabbed the win over Sagan by mere inches, while Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) rounded out the podium in third place. The Jumbo Visma rider’s result puts him into the yellow jersey before the team time trial. He’s also the first Dutch rider to wear yellow in 30 years.
After the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Grand Depart in Brussels, racing was underway in the 106th edition of the Tour de France. Almost immediately, Greg Van Avermaet (CCC), Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Mads WĂĽrtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) went off the front to forge the break of the day. The peloton was content with the combination, which contained two Belgian riders, and allowed the quartet a max of almost four minutes before they hit the two categorized climbs of the day.
Van Avermaet had his eye on the polka dots and took the maximum two points on the category three muur” de Grammont, which was enough to put him into the lead. After his effort, the Olympic champion soft-pedaled back into the peloton and conserved energy for the sprint finale. \nIt wasn’t long after that the peloton began to shake off the cobwebs and start the steady process of reeling in the remainder of the breakaway. Using a cobbled section as an advantage, Bora Hansgrohe turned up the heat with 70 kilometres to go, which quickly put an end to the breakaway’s bid for victory. The team set up Sagan for an easy ride to the intermediate sprint win ahead of Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Merida) and Van Avermaet.
A lull in the peloton prompted an attack from Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis), who bravely went solo with 60 kilometres to go. Rossetto, who was making his debut in the Tour de France, stayed off the front until 10 kilometres to go when the sprinters’ teams got down to business. From there, several nervous crashes caused chaos in the peloton, but Teunissen remained unscathed and savvy enough to best an in-form Sagan at the line.
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