Belgium's national champion Phillippe Gilbert probably had to commit to the sprint earlier than he wanted, but still he survived to win Stage 1 and earn the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.
BMC Racing's Cadel Evans finished in 2nd place. One of this year's overall favorites, the Australian drove hard to trail Gilbert by just 3 seconds.
Meanwhile, defending champion Alberto Contador and chief rival Andy Schleck found themselves caught behind crashes near the end of Stage 1, but only Contador lost time because of it.
The 2011 Tour de France opened with a crossing on the Passage du Gois then a mostly flat route for 191.5k (119 miles) until the Category 4 Mont des Alouettes.
Breakaway
A 3-man breakaway — Lieuwe Westra (Vanansoleil), Jeremy Roy (FDJ)
and Perrig Quemeneur (Team Europcar) — got away early in the morning on
the Passage du Gois, that causeway that's flooded at high tide. They gained up to 6:30 minutes, until some teams with their eye on the stage win started to chase.
One of those was Garmin-Cervelo. After teammate Tyler Farrar of Wenatchee, Washington, won the intermediate sprint, the team went to the front to position another cyclist — Thor Hushovd — for a stage win. Omego Lotto also drove the peloton for their contender, Gilbert.
The Omega-driven peloton caught the breakaway at 12 miles to go, then a spectator who brushed an Astana cyclist threw the race into disarray with 6 miles to go.
Crashes and timing
As usual, the stage had its share of crashes, often blamed on first day jitters.
The crash that caused most problems for the peloton, however, occured when a spectator bumped an Astana cyclist about 6 miles from the finish line. The cyclist fell to his left, bringing down a line of cyclists like dominoes, completely blocking the road. Contador was caught behind this mess while the 50 or 60 cyclists headed up the road.
Then, another crash occurred about 2km from the finish, delaying Andy Schleck and some others.
When these cyclists finished in the midst of the cyclists held up by the first crash, it was thought they'd all lost 1:20 to the winner. Because the “Schleck crash” occurred within 3km of the finish, however, those cyclists were assessed the trailing time of 6 seconds that the lead group received.
That's why Schleck, who finished 39th on the stage, officially finished 6 seconds behind winner Gilbert, and Contador, who finished 35th on the stage, officially finished 1:20 behind the winner.
Sprint
Gilbert was in the leading bunch and had his Omega teammates set up for a lead out inside the final mile when Fabian Cancellara flashed past. Gilbert had to respond and passed the time trial champion while others, like Evans and Hushovd made their bids to win.
Evans thanked American George Hincapie and other teammates for keeping him out of trouble on Saturday to put him in second place overall.
Here's a “streetsview” of the last few kilometers to the finish line from Cycling the Alps.com. After a mostly flat stage, this finish on Mont des Alouettes was a rude awakening.
Stage 2 is a 23k (14-mile) team time trial in Les Essarts. The route is essentially flat.
Top 10 overall
1. Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team — 3 seconds behind
3. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo — 6 seconds
4. Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team — 6 seconds
5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto — 6 seconds
6. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Sky ProCycling — 6 seconds
7. Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team RadioShack — 6 seconds
8. Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne — 6 seconds
9. Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack — 6 seconds
10. Tony Martin (Ger) HTC Highroad — 6 seconds
— Selected others —
33. Andy Schleck — 6 seconds
38. Levi Leipheimer — 6 seconds
60. George Hincapie — 6 seconds
82. Alberto Contador — 1:20
94. Tom Danielson — 1:55
96. Ryder Hesjedal — 1:55
125. Christian Vande Velde — 1:55
198. Jerome Vincent — 12:02
See all the results at Tour de France website.
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