Tour de France 2007: Stage 1 Results

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Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) over Boonen(Image credit: AFP)

As Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal fought it out in the Men's Final at Wimbledon and Kimi Raikonnen captured the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, it was Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) who had the most dramatic win of the moment. The Australian sprung for an incredible sprint victory in Canterbury, beating archrivals Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) and Tom Boonen (Quickstep-Innergetic) by over a bike length on the finishing straight on Rheims Way.

"I crashed with about 20 kilometres to go and landed on my knee and wrist," explained a still incredulous McEwen post-stage, "but my teammates waited for me. It was very hard to get back to the peloton and I was thinking 'it's finished' because when you crash and hurt yourself it's not good, but I stayed concentrated. I found the energy through the fear and frustration because I had crashed on the first stage of the Tour, but I realized I had nothing to lose. My goal at the Tour was to win one stage and I've done that, but I hope my injuries aren't too bad tomorrow."

"I remember in '94 when I came to the Tour when I was a kid," Millar continue. "I queued up in Brighton at the barriers for like four hours for the race to come through and then the two riders came through and ten minutes later Boardman had attacked off the front. I remember that made my whole day, seeing Boardman off the front. And so, I thought today, 'you know what, I'm just going to go on a suicide mission,' and it ended up being productive, which is a real bonus."

Millar well articulated his feelings about racing in England this weekend, "I just wanted to say 'thank you' to everyone, it's just been such an opportunity, it was the one opportunity in my life to do that. It's been amazing, there were flags and my name painted out and everyone was just cheering my name, it was nice to hear 'David' being shouted out in an English accent and not 'Davide, Davide.' It was the first time I've had 'David, David' the whole road, so that was great, it was just like wonderful, it's a big 'thank you' to everyone for coming out and supporting us. It was a good day. The crowd was huge, insane. Everywhere we went people were supporting us racing."

McEwen's Predictor-Lotto teammate Chris Horner gave major props to his Aussie teammate McEwen, telling Shane Stokes of Cyclingnews that "[Robbie] had Fred Rodriguez and Leif Hoste looking after him all the way into the finish and you can't ask for two better wheels than that. So nothing surprises me with Robbie when he sees the finish line. I have seen him when he is absolutely terrible, when he says 'don't do anything for me, I am bad,' and then he pulls out the win anyway."

Young British sprinter Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile) was touted as a possibility for the stage but he crashed into a spectator with 21 kilometres to go in Farthing Common at the base of the final KOM. His team director Brian Holm explained, "He ran into someone and was half-fighting with the man he ran into on the street. I don't know exactly what happened. Then his handlebars were damaged so we had to move up and change his bike again.

Cavendish eventually finished third from last on the stage, 2'45" behind McEwen. Just a handful of seconds before Cavendish, US TT champ Dave Zabriskie (CSC) crossed the finish line in 184th, 2'27" back as the American dropped off the pace in the final kilometres after his hard tempo work on the front today for his teammate Cancellara. Eduardo Gonzalo of Agritubel injured his right shoulder after 67 kilometres in Maidstone and crashed out of Le Tour, so 188 riders will start tomorrow as the Tour returns to France.

All 189 riders gathered in London under sunny skies and mild temperatures for the start of stage one. After a parade lap through the historic centre of London, the riders halted briefly on the Tower Bridge for a short stage opening ceremony, and after London mayor Kevin Livingstone cut the tape and dropped the flag, the riders headed out for an additional neutral section before starting the 203 kilometre stage to Canterbury.

The calm atmosphere in the peloton didn't prevent a few mishaps along the way. Eduardo Gonzalo (Agritubel) was the first rider to abandon at kilometre 79 after he crashed through the rear window of the Caisse d'Epargne team car. He broke his collarbone in the incident, but can take solace in the fact that he wasn't the first to have that experience - both Davis Phinney and Jan Ullrich have done the same. The Caisse d'Epargne team director was apologetic after the stage, telling French television that he the car in front of him stopped suddenly and there was nothing he could have done to prevent the accident.

The battle for the polka dot climber's jersey was more heated than the intermediate sprints. At the first KOM in Southborough at kilometre 94.5, Millar had to put in a solid sprint on the category four hill to get the points ahead of Grivko and Kuschynski. At the second category four climb in Goudhurst, Kuschynski tried to surprise his companions, but went too soon and was caught and passed by Bichot and Augé at the top.

With the break now at kilometre 121, the peloton was starting to get restless. Quickstep's Cédric Vasseur and a Crédit Agricole rider took over from the CSC train, which had been setting tempo all afternoon, and the gap to the breakaway started to fall quickly. After Predictor-Lotto sent Wim Vansevenant to the front with another teammate, the leaders' advantage fell down below the three-minute mark by the third intermediate sprint in Tenterden at kilometre 140.5.

The intermediate sprint was a hard-fought battle between Kuschynski, Bichot and Grivko who crossed the line in that order. As the chase gathered its fury, the peloton suffered a string of mishaps: first Oscar Freire flatted with 60 kilometres to go, then a crash involving Juan Miguel Mercado (Agritubel), Xabier Zandio (Caisse d'Epargne) and Brett Lancaster (Milram) in the town of Bethersden with 53 kilometres to go.