2020 Tour de France Stage 1 Results & Recap
Stage 1 of the 2020 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
Kristoff wins in Nice
Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) sprinted to his fourth career Tour de France win in the opening stage at the Promenade des Anglais in Nice today. The Norwegian sprinter outkicked world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Cees Bol (Team Sunweb).
Kristoff’s win put him in the first yellow jersey of the race. He’s the second Norwegian to take the malliot jeune after Thor Hushovd.
"I couldn’t dream of a better start,” Kristoff said. “This is a dream come true with not only the stage win I was aiming for but also the yellow jersey. In the last kilometre, I was alone but I felt strong and I was sitting on Peter Sagan’s wheel for a long time. I still had the legs to finish it off even though my run in to the Tour de France hadn’t been great. I crashed a few days ago. It’s an amazing moment for me at the age of 33. It means a lot for my career and my kids."
Michael Schär (CCC), Cyril Gautier (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), and Fabien Grellier (Total Direct Energie) were the first riders to form a breakaway in the 2020 Tour de France. They broke away after the official start quickly build up a gap of around 2 minutes and 40 seconds. As the rain began to fall, the roads became slick, and cause a multitude of crashes throughout the entire stage. The first of which involved Sam Bennett, and soon after, Julian Alaphilippe took a tumble on the downhill. The list of riders who crashed ranged from Caleb Ewan, to Miguel Angel Lopez to George Bennett. The crashes became so frequent Jumbo Visma called to unofficially neutralize the race over the descent.
"We knew there was a risk of stormy weather so we started stage 1 with the appropriate tubulars,” said Grellier, who leads the king of the mountains standings. “However, it seldom rains in this region so the road quickly turns slippery. I crashed towards the end of the stage but I’m not seriously injured. It’s enormous to wear the polka dot jersey at the Tour de France. I’m proud of that. I looked for the breakaway with that goal in mind. At the end, I had to do the best possible sprint to be ahead of Michael Schär on the finishing line. I pushed myself because sprinting isn’t exactly my forte. Only five minutes after I crossed the line, I got to know that I was ahead of him. I took it as excellent news."
The peloton rode casually until an attack from Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale) around 22km to go. He was quickly caught as the sprinters’ teams organized. More crashes marred the closing kilometres as the peloton wound up for the finish that included French favorite Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).
Kristoff managed to stay upright and surfed on Peter Sagan’s wheel until accelerating to the win. \n
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