The peloton is assembling in Place Masséna in Nice for the start of stage 1 of the most unusual edition of the Tour de France. Two months later than billed, the Tour sets off from Nice and all of the usual excitement at the Grand Départ is tempered by a sense of unease. With the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rising sharply in France, it is not at all certain that this race will make it all the way to Paris on September 20. While professional cycling at large has been eager – desperate, in fact – for the 2020 Tour to go ahead, it is unclear whether it really should. But, for now at least, the great bike race is on. The neutralised start of today's stage is at 14.00 local time, when the peloton due to reach kilometre zero at 14.15.
They used to say that Charles De Gaulle was president of France for eleven months of the year, but Jacques Goddet was president for the month of July. In this September Tour, there are no doubts about the division of power between the state and the Tour. Christian Prudhomme is race director and nothing more. After 7,379 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in France yesterday, the French government's inter-ministerial crisis unit ordered the Tour to restore its 'two strikes, team out policy', which means that whole teams will be excluded from the race if any two members of their riders or staff test positive for COVID-19 within the same seven-day period. “We remain with two cases out of 30 people in the same team over a period of seven days,” Prudhomme told AFP on Saturday, adding that the decision “had been taken by the inter-ministerial crisis unit.” Read more here.
Today's 156km opening stage comprises of three loops in the hinterland of Nice and includes two ascents of the category 3 Côte de Rimiez (5.38km at 5.1%) after 48km and 105km, but we can expect the sprinters to fight it out for the first maillot jaune on the Promenade des Anglais.
Sam Bennett is among the contenders for the first maillot jaune of this Tour. He would become the first Irishman since Stephen Roche in 1987 to wear the yellow jersey, and the fourth in history after Shay Elliot (1963) and Sean Kelly (1983) if he is first across the line this afternoon. Speaking in Nice this week, Bennett's mind was on more recent history - namely the successes of former QuickStep sprinters like Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish, Fernando Gaviria and Elia Viviani on the Tour. "I don't want to be the first sprinter in QuickStep's history who can't win in the Tour. That's the pressure I feel," Bennett admitted. Stephen Farrand has the full story here.
Another likely contender this afternoon is Caleb Ewan, though the Lotto Soudal man warned that the sprinters might have to battle their way back on after the race tackles the hills around Nice. "I think the benefit for the sprinters is there is a lot of time to come back even if you do get dropped on the climb," Ewan said. "There is a lot of time to come back in the valley, and usually at this time of year in the valley, there's a headwind, so that also makes it a bit easier to come back." Read more here.
Had the current coronavirus 'two strikes' rule been in place all week, incidentally, Ewan and his Lotto Soudal team might not have been permitted to take the start. Two staff members from the Belgian squad tested positive for COVID-19 (or 'non-negative' to use the team's parlance) during the week and both they and their roommates were sent home. At that point, the 'two strikes' rule had been - temporarily, as it turned out - adapted so that only two positive cases among riders (rather than the entire 'bubble' of riders and staff) could force a team out of the Tour.
There has already been racing in Nice this morning, by the way. Lizze Deignan underlined his form by beating Marianne Vos to the line in a keenly-contested sprint at La Course. Read more here.
The morning's other news concerns Deceuninck-QuickStep, who have decried the UCI's decision to order a CADF investigation into the contents of Remco Evenepoel's pockets at Il Lombardia. The team insists that directeur sportif Davide Bramati removed "a small bottle containing nutrition products" from Evenepoel's pocket following his crash "in order to help him to be placed more comfortably by medical staff on the stretcher."
The peloton has rolled out from the start and is making its way through the line neutralised zone beneath overcast skies in Nice, with sparse, masked crowds watching them go by. The 2020 Tour de France is about to begin.
This is a neutralised zone of almost Vuelta a Espana-dimensions as the peloton climb out of Nice. There are still two kilometre of neutralised riding remaining.
Once the flag drops, the road continues climbing for 8km towards Aspremont, and we can surely expect a flurry of early attacks ahead of the more rugged terrain in the middle of the stage.
-156km
CCC-Liv, Total-Direct Energie and B&B Hotels-Vital Concept are immediately on the offensive within seconds of the start, and it looks as though our early break has formed without any kind of a struggle.
Michael Schar (CCC Team), Cyril Gautier (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) and Fabien Grellier (Total-Direct Energie) clipped away as soon as the flag dropped, and this trio has immediately established a gap over a peloton that seems more than happy to leave them to it.
-154km
This is Gautier's first Tour appearance since 2017. His team wasn't invited in 2019 and he wasn't selected in his final season with AG2R in 2018. The experienced Breton had previously raced eight Tours in succession, from 2010 to 2017.
-150km
Some drops of rain are beginning to fall over the race, and this stage could take on a rather different complexion if it ends up being raced on wet roads.
-146km
Egan Bernal (Ineos) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) have taken care to placem themselves near the head of affairs on this twisting early descent, though, mercifully, the peloton is not tackling the hairpins with any particular intensity.
-141km
-139km
The on-form Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Fernandro Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) are high-profile absentees, as is Mark Cavendish (Bahrain-McLaren), but there is still a long, long list of contenders for the first yellow jersey of the Tour should the race come down to a bunch sprint this afternoon.
-135km
Situation
The rain is now falling steadily over the Tour de France, which might make the descent of the Côte de Rimiez rather treacherous later on. The temperature, meanwhile, is a pleasant 25°C.
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) told Eurosport (or at least, the television pool in the mixed zone at the start) that his hopes of contesting the sprint were dependent on team duties. "I will see in the final, it all depends on the race circumstances. If it’s controlled and Tony [Martin] and Amund [Grøndahl Jansen] are there for Primoz and Tom to keep them out of danger, then I can go for the sprint. But it really depends on how the race goes in the climbs. I think there will be tricky descents and it will be nervous. And maybe I have to work already there to keep Tom and Primoz in position. This is our priority."
-127km
The rain has abated for the time being and the sun is once again threatening to poke through the clouds, even if the sky remains a rather menacing shade of grey.
-123km
So far, so routine, but today's parcours includes enough rugged terrain for some ad libs to the set script. We expect a bunch finish at day's end, but the fast men will surely have to withstand some attacking on the succession of hills with 50km or so remaining.
-117km
Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT) was also among the fallers, but it appears that all riders involved have remounted and are in the process of rejoining the peloton.
-115km
-112km
Miguel Angel Lopez is chasing back to the rear of the bunch with a delegation from his Astana team. We didn't see the Colombian go down in the crash but it appears as though he had to stop for a bike change. Lopez is safely back on, as is Sam Bennett.
The break covered 43.8km in the opening hour of racing. They are now a little 2km from the top of the first climb of the 2020 Tour, and we can expect a skirmish for the king of the mountains points between Gautier, Grellier and Schar.
Pozzovivo took a while to make it back up to the peloton after the crash but the Italian is now safely back on board.
-109km
-107km
The break's lead is down to 1:40 over the peloton, where Bora-Hansgrohe and Jumbo-Visma are now prominent. Caleb Ewan seemed to lose contact briefly at the top of the climb, though it may simply have been that the Australian was dropping back through the bunch on the ascent to save his legs ahead of an eventual sprint, in the manner of Mark Cavendish at the 2011 Worlds.
Tim Declercq (Deceuninck-QuickStep) takes up his familiar position at the head of the peloton. The Belgian sets the tempo on behalf of his sprinter Sam Bennett as rain begins to fall once again over the Tour.
-104km
Sivakov is pedalling very, very gingerly indeed, though his slow pace looks to be due to a flat rear tyre rather than any injury sustained in the crash. Even so, Cosnefroy taps him on the back out of concern as he rides past the Russian on the way back to the peloton.
-102km
Pierre Latour (AG2R), Omar Fraile (Astana) and Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) also went down in that crash, and all three riders are in the process of bridging back to the peloton.
The rain, meanwhile, is falling every more heavily over the race, and the afternoon is suddenly growing rather grim about the mouth. The next descent off this climb could be treacherous indeed as the intensity ratchets up ahead of the finale.
Jumbo-Visma, UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe are all stationed at the head of the bunch for the time being. The miserable conditions will make the competition for berths at the front of the peloton all the more intense as the day draws on.
Letour.fr reports, meanwhile, that Pavel Sivakov is receiving medical attention following the crash as he rides along behind the bunch.
-98km
Niccolo Bonifazio (Total-Direct Energie) is the first of the fast men to betray signs of suffering at the rear of the peloton as the pressure rises a notch or two.
Another crash at the head of the peloton. A couple of riders slid out on a road marking that was made treacherous by the persistent rain.
It looked like Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) and an Arkea-Samsic rider who went down in that crash, though reportedly without lasting injury.
-95km
Pavel Sivakov is still chasing the peloton alone, and we can now see that his right arm and side are bloodied and bruised. The Russian is two minutes down on the bunch and taking these hairpins in instalments.
Rowe is serving as a one-man safety car at the head of the peloton, though the stalling doesn't appear to be helping Sivakov to get back up to the bunch. Plenty of riders will be glad, mind, not to race flat out down this hairpin-littered and wet descent.
-93km
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has crashed on the descent. The Frenchman is back on his feet and he doesn't appear to be badly hurt, but it's never a happy portent for a Tour to crash on the opening afternoon. He stands waiting for a replacement bike, which eventually arrives.
-90km
Alaphilippe is now channeling 1998 Tonkov as he takes a foot out of the pedal and drags it along the ground as he makes his way gingerly around a hairpin doused in surface water.
Alaphilippe is some 3:50 down on the break and two minutes off the bunch as he again hangs a leg to get around a hairpin. The Frenchman is even behind the struggling Sivakov on the road for the time being.
-87km
Alaphilippe is now on flat roads and looking rather more sure of his grip as he climbs from the saddle to give chase. The Frenchman should be able to make his way back up to the bunch.
A rather glum faced Egan Bernal is situated near the rear of the peloton, though I don't believe he was a faller. His teammate Andrey Amador was a faller at around the same point as Alaphilippe.
Alaphilippe has a minute to make up on the bunch, which has now drifted to 2:44 behind the escapees.
Alaphilippe almost came a cropper again as he made his way through a traffic jam in the convoy of cars, but the Frenchman is almost within sight of the rear of the bunch.
Alaphilippe has joined a group featuring Amador, Sivakov and Tom Dumoulin just behind the bunch. I'm not sure if Dumoulin went down, but he must have endured some manner of mishap - mechanical or otherwise - to be in this group.
-81km
-79km
The rain has eased slightly but there is little respite in the bunch, where the pace is beginning to rise once again on the flat run-in to Nice, where the race will pass the finish line for the second time in around 10km or so. That passage over the finish line will also encompass the day's intermediate sprint.
-76km
-75km
Sivakov, meanwhile, is in a group that is still lingering off the rear of the bunch and Alaphilippe is again in this group after his parley with the Deceuninck-QuickStep team car. We can expect plenty more confusion in the breathless final hours of racing in these conditions.
Sivakov really looks to be suffering the effects of his earlier crash. The Russian will just look to make it to the finish any way he can. He was back at the team car and shaking his head as he spoke with Gabriel Rasch. Now he drops by the race doctor's car and he appears be having his left wrist assessed.
-70km
Alaphilippe and Nizzolo are back in the main peloton, but just as he rejoins, there is another crash in the bunch. Amador has gone down for the second time, and the Costa Rican was not the only faller. Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) and David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) also went down.
-68km
Richie Porte is chasing on at the back of the bunch. The Tasmanian was caufght up in that crash and he faces a desperate pursuit as the intensity increases in the bunch.
Pavel Sivakov, meanwhile, looks like he went down once again, as now his left arm is bloodied and his shorts are torn. The Russian is enduring a miserable Tour debut, and he is 4:25 off the front of the race.
-66km
-65km
Is there a patron in the peloton to call for a self-policed neutralisation in the manner of Fabian Cancellara on the 2010 Tour or, er Lance Armstrong and Danilo Diu Luca on the 2009 Giro?
-63km
The brief lull in the peloton has allowed Richie Porte to get back on. Julian Alaphilippe appeared to have stopped to change back to his original bike, and the Frenchman is now safely - or as safely as is possible on this hazardous parcours - tucked near the head of the bunch.
Grellier is caught by the peloton. If Gautier wins the mountains sprint out front, he will move ahead of Grellier and take the polka dot jersey.
-61km
After the top of the Côte de Rimiez, the road continues to climb towards Aspremont, before the riders face into a by-now familiar but no-less-treacherous descent.
-59km
Schar goes very early and he will take the maximum 2 points atop the summit. Gautier is second, which means that Grellier, Gautier and Schar all have two points in the king of the mountains competition...
Nizzolo, meanwhile, is suffering at the rear of the bunch. The European champion must have gone down earlier in the stage, as he looks to be in considerable distress. Roman Kreuziger places a consoling arm on his back.
-57.5km
Omar Fraile and Astana lead the bunch on the short descent that follows the KoM. George Bennett comes forward and suggests they slow down.
Caleb Ewan has been confirmed as being among the fallers ahead of the climb, and the Australian is more than 6 minutes down on the peloton and his hopes of winning the stage and taking the first yellow jersey of the 2020 Tour are long over.
Mikel Landa and his Bahrain-McLaren cohort are back near the head of the peloton. Nizzolo is trailing at 1:06 and the Ewan group, which I believe includes John Degenkolb is at 6:35.
-55km
We will see, of course, if this détente endures once the road starts descending again with 51km remaining. The GC contenders will hope it does.
Tony Martin looks to be in the role of patron of the peloton. The German spread his arms as if to signal a cessation of hostilities ahead of the next descent. The lull in pace is allowing Nizzolo to latch back on. Ewan, of course, has been irretrievably distanced after his earlier crash.
Most of the riders who went down, or who were caught behind crashes or who may have gone down (there has been considerable confusion out there) appear to be back in the bunch. The exception is Caleb Ewan, who is minutes behind the bunch.
-51km
Stefan Kung and Tony Martin are the men who appear to be setting the tone for the moment at the head of the bunch. Being a German-speaking rouleur increasingly feels like a requirement for potential shop stewards in the modern Tour peloton.
-50km
Astana lead on the descent, albeit without pushing on the pace. The body language of the Kazakhstani team suggested they might not have been entirely in favour of laying down arms.
Omar Fraile and three Astana teammates have stretched things out a little at the head of the race, but Ion Izagirre locks up his wheels on a corner, slides across the road and, while still upright, slams into a road sign. The Basque mercifully looks to be unhurt, but that could have been horrific.
After that scare, Primoz Roglic rides up alongside Omar Fraile and signals for Astana to calm down and slacken the pace. The men in blue have duly left the front of the race and the bunch is spread across the road once again.
-45km
Ewan is 48 seconds down on the peloton. He might well get back on, though he will surely have had to use a lot of energy to get back to this point.
Ewan has Jasper De Buyst for company. The Australian doesn't appear to be showing any visible signs of injury as he chases, just over 30 seconds down on the peloton.
-42km
-41km
We have confirmation that Nairo Quintana was a faller earlier for Arkea-Samisc, though the Colombian deftly picked himself back up immediately.
-40km
Pavel Sivakov is still in the race, but Letour.fr reports that the Russian is some distance behind the peloton.
-39km
The road continues to drop downwards until around 22km or so to go, so we can expect no increase in the intensity of the peloton until at least that point.
-35km
After three hours of racing, the average speed is 39.9kph. The speed has dropped considerably in the last 45 minutes or so as a consequence of the peloton's (almost) unanimous response that relentless succession of crashes.
The bunch comes almost to a stop every time it hits a hairpin bend, with some riders forced to pull a foot out just to stay upright and get around.
-30km
The on-screen graphics at one point suggested that Caleb Ewan was more than 6 minutes down on the bunch but even allowing for the slackening of the pace, it seems unlikely that he made up that deficit. If the Lotto Soudal man changed bikes, then perhaps that time check was taken from the transponder on his original machine. We should have more clarity at the finish.
-28km
-27km
-25km
Egan Bernal is locked in conversation with his Ineos teammate Michal Kwiatkowski. Peter Sagan chats with Sonny Colbrelli. Greg Van Avermaet share a joke. It's hard to be believe the first yellow jersey of the Tour will be on the line in 24km, but the pace remains gentle for the time being.
Roglic and Alaphilippe also exchange words near the head of the peloton, where Tim Declercq is now leading. It looks as though the pace is going to ratchet up ahead of a bunch sprint, though conversations are ongoing in the body of the peloton.
-21km
-20km
-18km
-16km
A Jumbo-Visma delegation is also well placed near the head of the bunch. Will Wout van Aert have the freedom to contest the sprint? Based on what he said at the start, it appears as though he will. The Belgian suggested that he would chase stage victory if Dumoulin and Roglic were both safely tucked in the main peloton on the run-in.
-14km
-13km
-12km
-10km
-8km
Word is reaching us that the times for general classification will be taken with 3km to go at the request of "many riders in the peloton."
-6km
-5km
-4km
-3.5km
-3km
I think it was just inside the final 3km, so Pinot shouldn't lose any time. He remounts, but he has a share of cuts and a torn jersey and shorts.
-1.5km
-1km
Bora-Hansgrohe lead it out, then Trek-Segafredo take over with Consonni...
Michael Morkov begins his lead-out....
Cees Bol hits the front but Alexander Kristoff is moving up...
Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) wins stage 1 of the Tour de France.
Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) took second place, but Kristoff will be the first yellow jersey of the 2020 Tour.
Pinot, Alaphilippe, Dan Martin and Guillaume Martin were all among the riders caught up in that crash but it looks like it happen inside the final 3km so it won't affect the general classification.
Cees Bol took third on the stage, ahead of Sam Bennett. But there was no getting past Kristoff, who got his big gear turning and didn't let up. The Norwegian has more than justified his selection ahead of the on-form Gaviria. It's not the first time Kristoff has won a big sprint at the end of a miserable and wet day on the Riviera - he won Milan-San Remo in similarly grim conditions in 2014.
Bol went from distance, but Kristoff flashed past him to take the spoils. Pedersen produced a fine sprint to come through for second, while Bennett had to settle for 4th.
Alexander Kristoff puts on his face mask and describes his day: “I always dreamt about wearing the yellow jersey and it’s a dream come true. You can’t dream of a better start. We have a team for the climbers, so we didn’t really expect to win a sprint, at least not so early on. I felt really strong in the final kilometres and going to the line I saw I was going to win. it was an amazing feeling and I’m really proud of what I managed to do. Ok, the boys kept me also safe during the stage but in the last kilometres, I was alone, but I still found the good wheel.
Result
General classification
Thibaut Pinot's annoyance was obvious as he rode into the finish line. The Frenchman had just reached the 'shore' of the time-neutralised final 3km only to come down heavily in a crash immediately afterwards. It remains to be seen if his crash will have a lasting impact. Amid the adrenaline of the closing kilometres, the pain was outstripped by frustration.
Sam Bennett initially looked well placed but he had to yield Morkov's rear wheel to Trek-Segafredo's Simone Consonni. He never quite built up a head of steam in the sprint and wound up a distant fourth, while Peter Sagan came home in fifth.
The first yellow jersey of the Tour goes to Alexander Kristoff, but the Norwegian's success is just one of the talking points from a dramatic opening day in Nice. The self-policed neutralisation by the peloton after a spate of crashes is the day's headline. Thibaut Pinot's crash with 3km to go was the big news among the GC contenders, though the Frenchman will be awarded the same time as the rest of the peloton as it took place just - just - within the final 3km.
Kristoff, now with the yellow jersey on his shoulders, dons the face mask again for another interview: "It’s going to mean a lot to me in my career. I don’t have so many years left so for sure when I retire in a few years’ time, I will look back at this moment with a lot of joy. It’s a proud moment for me. It will be a proud day for me, and I guess I will only hold it for one day unless something very strange happens tomorrow, so I will try to enjoy it as much as possible.
Peter Sagan (5th) on his day: "It was a crazy last kilometre. It was all the way a headwind. I started my sprint with 200 metres to go but it was very nervous. In the end it was a big mess. A sprint with a headwind like this is a bit of a lottery. I just need a bit more good luck."
Groupama-FDJ have provided a short update on their crashes in the finale: "Three of our riders crashed in the finale: Thibaut Pinot, David Gaudu, William Bonnet. Valentin Madouas also crashed earlier in the stage. All of them reached the finish line on their bikes. They were reassuring back at the bus."
Fabien Grellier (Total-Direct Energie) is the first wearer of the polka dot jersey: “We knew that there was the risk of heavy rain so I started with tyres deflated slightly in preparation for that. When you’re in a region where it rains so rarely, the road becomes like an ice rink when it actually does rain. There were a lot of crashes. I crashed myself in the last 3km but it was superficial, I don’t have any injuries. My day has finished well with this polka dot jersey.
Pavel Sivakov (Ineos) made it to the finish alone, 13 minutes down on the peloton. The Russian fell twice during the stage.
Omar Fraile offers an explanation for why Astana appeared to lift the pace on the final descent, per AS. “I didn’t want to accelerate, I just wanted to set the pace. It was all very dangerous. If you touched the brakes, you hit the ground. I don’t have problems with the rain, but I braked and I fell. I was like riding on soap.
A full report, results and pictures from a tumultuous opening day are available here.
John Degenkolb finished outside the time limit after battling to help Caleb Ewan back to the bunch and after crashing himself.
Miguel Ángel López says his dramatic crash 'could have been much worse'
Alexander Kristoff is expecting to lose the maillot jaune on the mountainous stage 2 but says he'll enjoy wearing it for a day.
After last year's tearful exit from the Tour, the cruelty continues for Thibaut Pinot who crashed just inside 3km to go.
Catch the highlights reel from today's stage here.
Recap on the crashes on stage 1: Rain and twisting descents spark numerous crashes during stage 1
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