As it happened: Crosswind chaos sees reduced peloton sprint for the win and GC contenders dropped at the Tour de France stage 1

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 1 of the 2025 Tour de France. Yes, it's finally here!

The neutralised start for stage 1 is at 1310 CET, then there's a lengthy section before racing itself begins for real at 1340.

The weather in Lille is currently dry warm and a bit overcast, but most importantly for the race, it's windy, and there are expectations that what's already a stiff breeze could get stronger as the day progresses. On an exposed course running through the flatlands of northern France, that could mean crosswinds.

Barring those cross-winds, today's opening stage is likely to end in a bunch sprint. Here's Cyclingnews' full preview by colleague James Moultrie of the opening stage of the 2025 Tour de France.

Tour de France 2025 stage 1 preview – Chaos expected in sprint for iconic first yellow jersey in Lille

And the first images of today's start are already appearing. Here's one of the Arkéa-B&BHotels team at the signon

A reminder, too, that the Tour de France is not the only Grand Tour in town this weekend. The Giro d'Italia Women starts Sunday in Bergamo and Cyclingnews will be providing full coverage of the race. Here's our latest story on it, reviewing the key stages.

Giro d’Italia Women 2025 – The make-or-break stages in the race for the maglia rosa

Meanwhile, elsewhere on Planet Cycling...

An unexpected fan: wild bear surprise spectator of race convoy at Sibiu Tour stage - video

Look who's back...

Just five minutes to go before the neutralised rollout begins

A key image from the stage 1 neutralised startline...

They're on the move! The riders have begun the lengthy neutralised section in Lille, and are swarmed by huge crowds.

The defining rivalry of modern cycling is of course Tadej Pogačar versus Jonas Vingegaard, of which this year’s Tour de France will be the latest in the seemingly never ending installments. Have a read of Philippa York’s analysis ahead of the race.

It's Round Five in the epic Vingegaard-Pogačar duel - Philippa York analysis

There’s still 7km left of the neutralised zone, where it seems every inch of the roadside has been claimed by spectators.

Here were the riders waiting at the unofficial start.

Mathieu van der Poel is just off the back of the peloton, with 3.5km left of the neutralised zone. He wore the yellow jersey for most of the first week in 2021, but will today be tasked with delivering it to his Alpecin teammate Jasper Philipsen.

We're just moments away from the flag. Anticipation is reaching fever pitch!

And we're off!

185KM TO GO

The familiar sight of Christian Prudhomme’s head and torso popping out of the race car waving the flag gets this year’s Tour de France underway.

Five riders have attacked right from the off.

Four of them are French: Armirail, Thomas, Le Berre, Vercher. The other is German: Jonas Rutsch.

The peloton hasn’t sat up, but they have allowed the gap to grow up to 45 seconds already.

Now it does seem they have sat up - in fact it seems most of the bunch are already taking a comfort break.

So we have our break of the day, and it’s a strong one. Benjamin Thomas is a Grand Tour stage winner from the Giro last year, while Bruno Armirail has a notoriously powerful engine.

The gap up to 1:30, Alpecin and Lidl have taken over at the front of the peloton. Their respective sprinters Jasper Philipsen and Jonathan Milan are desperate to win today, and seize a potentially once-in-a-career opportunity to wear the yellow jersey.

We have the first mechanical of the Tour de France - Cofidis' Bryan Coquard. This will be the Frenchman's eighth Tour, and he could be in the mi in the sprint today.

Alpecin have all seven of their domestiques in formation at the front of the peloton, including Mathieu van der Poel and Kaden Groves, all working for Philipsen. This feels like a statement of intent from the team, and a visible show of confidence that their sprinter can win the tenth stage of his Tour career, and take a first yellow jersey.

Quinn Simmons is also contributing to the pace-setting in the peloton, visible in the stars and stripes jersey as American national champion. He’s working for Lidl-Trek teammate Jonathan Milan.

The gap's been allowed to grow some more, up to over two minutes.

170KM TO GO

Here's a first glimpse of the five riders up the road.

The odds are of course stacked against these five riders, but perhaps less so than it might have been given the calibre of riders that managed to get into it.

Benjamin Thomas especially knows how a breakaway like this can succeed - it was from a four-man group that he took the sole Grand Tour stage win of his career, during the first week of the 2024 Giro d’Italia.

Bruno Armirail is a veteran of breakaways, and has been especially lively this year. His multiple escapes has helped see him take the King of the Mountains classification at both the Dauphiné and Tour of the Basque Country - so we can expect him to target the points on offer today, and seal the first polka-dot jersey of the race.

The gap has steadied at 2:10. Alpecin and Lidl are keeping this controlled.

160KM TO GO

It’s interesting that Intermarché–Wanty have got Jonas Rutsch into the break. Given the team has the star sprinter of last year’s race, Biniam Girmay, you might have assumed Rutsch and the rest of their line-up to focus exclusively on his sprint. But the Eritrean hasn’t shown that form this year, and it seems the team are hedging their bets.

The long line of Alpecin-Deceuninck riders leading the peloton.

The peloton are controlling the break very tightly, keeping it at little more than two minutes.

150KM TO GO

TotalEnergies have fulfilled their obligation as a wildcard team by getting a man in this break, Mattéo Vercher. And Arkéa - B&B Hotels have Mathis Le Berre there, despite having a multiple stage winning sprinter Arnaud Démare in their line-up.

Cycling royalty is here today at the roadside, in Mark Cavendish, for the first time following the race as a spectator as the outright record holder for most stage wins.

The battle for the KOM jersey has begun! The riders are on the first climb of the day, and Armirail has upped the pace.

Thomas attacks 200m from the top.

Thomas takes the one point at the top, managing to drop the other four.

COTE DE NOTRE-DAME-DE-LORETTE

That puts Thomas in the lead, with two more climbs to come, each with one point available at the top. If he's first over just one of those climbs, he'll be on the podium tonight in the polka-dot jersey.

Alpecin lead the peloton over the climb, 2:20 later.

The accelerations on that climb has helped the break reach their biggest advantage of the day. They're all back together again now, after gaps appeared between them, and the pace has steadied again.

140KM TO GO

The gap is plummeting again now, down to 1:40. There’s lots of attentiveness in the peloton, with Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-ADQ and other GC teams keeping their leaders towards the front.

The GC teams appear to be conscious of the threat of wind. It is indeed blowing out there, but so far the peloton has mostly been riding into a headwind. Things could get very lively with a change of direction.

We have our first crash of the Tour de France. Ganna and Sean Flynn have gone down.

Flynn is back up and riding, but Ganna is taking longer.

Ganna is back riding again too now, and slowly making his way back to the peloton.

Guillaume Martin is also out the back of the peloton, presumably having had a mechanical of some sort.

It’s UAE and Visma who have taken over from the sprinter teams at the front of the peloton, and they’ve upped the pace again. They seem to be anticipating some potential wind…

Amid the tension, there's been another crash - Stefan Bissegger. He’s back up and riding, but getting a concussion check.

Thibau Nys is off the back, in wha is his first ever day at the Tour de France. It seems he must have gone down in a crash too.

It may actually have just been a mechanical for Nys, rather than a crash.

The gap's gone down to 1:15 following the work from the GC teams.

The pace is really high, with the peloton strung out. It’s still mostly UAE and Visma who are leading the fight for position, with sprinters teams like Lidl also up there.

The speed has seen the break's lead come down to under a minute for the first time.

120KM TO GO

All this is in anticipation of a change of direction coming up in a few kilometres, which will see the wind hit them from the side.

Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates, battling for position at the front of the peloton.

Florian Lipowitz has had a bike change. He’ll want to return to the peloton as quickly as possible, as a potential GC contender following his excellent podium finish at the Dauphine.

One rider who hasn’t yet returned to the peloton is Ganna. He’s still being paced by his team car, and doing so somewhat gingerly.

Ganna has just rejoined the peloton.

The wind hasn’t blown and the action hasn’t kicked off, but the pace has still been high enough to see a few riders dropped.

One of those riders is Lenny Martinez. That’s bad news for Bahrain-Victorious, for whom he is a GC option following what has been an excellent season; and for France, as he’s the nation’s latest great new young hope.

At the front, Vercher has been dropped by the other four breakaway riders.

Split in the peloton!

It's been closed again, but it's getting tense out there.

Meanwhile the four remaining breakaway riders are only 25 seconds ahead of the peloton.

110KM TO GO

The peloton can now see the breakaway, who look ready to give up the ghost.

Martinez is 35 seconds behind the peloton. It's unclear also if Lipowitz is still off the back after his mechanical.

Alaphilippe is the latest rider to have a mechanical. He'll also face a tough chase to rejoin with the pace this high.

The catch has been made, with 105km still to ride. We're not even halfway into the stage yet!

BREAKAWAY CAUGHT

Van Aert is with his team car picking up bidons. It seems things have calmed down a little.

More riders are dropping back to pick up bidons. The pace is indeed slower.

The Lenny Martinez group is about 30 seconds behind the peloton. They have a chance to catch up with the pace down, though it's likely to pick up again soon as we approach the day's intermediate sprint.

100KM TO GO

The first intermediate sprint of a Tour is always a revealing moment, as it shows which riders are targeting the green jersey.

Alpecin lead with 1km to go until the sprint.

Lidl take over, for Milan.

Milan takes the points, Philipsen, Girmay and Coquard were also competing for it.

With no break up the road, there were more points than usual available for that sprint. Milan clearly wants to add the green jersey to the two points classification titles he has from the Giro.

In that sprint Milan defeated both the previous winners of the green jersey, Girmay and Philipsen.

Mattéo Vercher has attacked, taking advantage of the post-sprint slowdown.

Here were the results from the sprint:

1 Milan 20 points

2 Coquard 17

3 Girmay 15

4 Philipsen 13

5 Turgis 11

6 Meeus 10

7 Penhoet 9

8 Tobias Lund Andersen 8

9 Consonni 7

10 Cattaneo 6

Interestingly, Merlier didn’t really contest the sprint, finishing down in 13th to collect just the 3 points. That suggests his priority at this Tour may be solely stage wins, rather than the green jersey.

Thomas has also attacked out of the proton, and joined Vercher. One by one the original break is reassembling!

While the 2024 and 2023 winner of the green jersey picked up points at the intermediate sprint, notable by his absence was the 2022 winner, Wout van Aert. He doesn’t appear to be going for green then - but will he go for the stage win in the expected sprint today?

The new breakaway duo has built a lead of 25 seconds.

90KM TO GO

Meanwhile the Lenny Martinez group rejoined the peloton earlier.

Vercher and Thomas, the newly-formed two-man lead group.

The duo's lead is up to a minute.

The riders are climbing again, up the cobbled Mont-Cassel. It’s 1.8km long, and averages 3.8%.

The peloton start the climb 1:02 behind the leaders. One of Thomas or Vercher should therefore take the one KOM point on offer at the top - which will seal him the polka-dot jersey.

80KM TO GO

Ganna has been dropped from the peloton on the climb. He must still be hurting from his crash.

Ackermann has also been dropped. That's bad news as he's an outside bet for the stage win.

Thomas has attacked 500m from the top, but unable to drop Vercher.

Vercher and Thomas sprint for the line...

Vercher and Thomas crash into each other as they sprint over the line!

CRASH

Thomas' bike slipped as he lunged for the line - he then swerved and crashed into Vercher. Both seem rattled rather than hurt.

It's unclear for now who took the point.

Meanwhile Martinez was once again dropped on the climb.

Thomas was first over the line, and so takes the point that gives him an unassailable lead in the King of the Mountains…

...or will it? The commissaires may want to look at that sprint. Not only did Thomas cause the crash, but he may also have blocked Vercher's sprinting line ahead of it.

Splits in the peloton! Soudal-QuickStep have taken over and upped the pace.

The splits are towards the back rather than the front.

Simon Yates has had a mechanical, which means he's been caught out and not present in the front group.

The peloton is still very large. The splits were small and happened right towards the back.

Riders who were caught out in that split are rejoining now, including Nys.

Bike change for Georg Zimmermann.

Nils Politt is out the back of the peloton. That's a surprise, as he's one of UAE's main men for flat stages like this.

Arensman is also out the back, in a group with Simon Yates.

Simon Yates, Arensman and Martinez are all together in a group that's about 30 seconds behind the peloton.

70KM TO GO

Bad news to report. We have our first DNF of the Tour de France, and it's a big name - Filippo Ganna. The Italian has not recovered from his crash earlier in the day.

ABANDON

That's terrible news for the race, as if Ganna's form during the spring was anything to go by, he could have really animated this Tour.

There’s been a regrouping in the peloton, with dropped riders including the Martinez group returning. Thomas is also back, after crashing so dramatically during the KOM sprint.

We still have no break up the road. The pace is still high in the peloton as teams continue to fight for the best positon.

60KM TO GO

One rider yet to rejoin the peloton is Simon Yates. He's 35 seconds adrfit still.

Yates is all on his own. While his priority for this race is riding in service of Jonas Vingegaard, it could still be useful for Visma to have him up there on GC for other teams to worry about, especially with his reputation and fear factor increased by his Giro d’Italia triumph in May.

Bike change for Raúl García Pierna of Arkéa - B&B Hotels.

Simon Yates is back in the peloton.

Visma and UAE are riding side-by-side at the front of the peloton, as the enter the final 50km.

50KM TO GO

It’s been a breathless stage, so much so that there hasn’t been much time to reflect on who the favourites for the stage win - and therefore also the first yellow jersey of the race - are.

Arguably the fastest - and certainly the most prolific - sprinter of the year has been Tim Merlier, with ten wins under his belt already.

He’s only ridden the Tour de France once, back in 2021, when he won a stage, which seems remarkable for a rider of his calibre. This is his chance to shine, and a win today would make this the biggest day of the 61 he has recorded in his illustrious career.

The peloton reached the top of the final climb of the day with nobody going for the KOM points, Thomas already having sealed the jersey. Interestingly, Vingegaard rolled over to take points - given his aspirations, you wouldn’t have thought picking up a single KOM point would be a priority, but it didn’t really cost him energy to do so.

MONT NOIR

Unfortunately, there’s a second DNF to announce - Stefan Bissegger. The Swiss rider was, like Ganna, involved in a crash earlier, and has deemed himself unable to continue.

Martinez was once again dropped on that last climb. He’s having a rotten day - you can only imagine he’s suffering from some kind of illness or ailment.

After Merlier, the most prolific sprinter this year has been Jonathan Milan, with 6 victories to his name. The Italian took the maximum points in the intermediate sprint earlier, and is hoping for a perfect start to his Tour de France career with a stage win and the yellow jersey today. That would be some way of announcing himself.

While he hasn’t been in the form of either Merlier or Milan this year, the other top favourite for the win today, Jasper Philipsen, does have a few things going for him. Firstly, Tour experience - he’s already won nine stages here, plus the green jersey. And secondly, arguably one of the strongest lead-out trains ever assembled at a Tour de France, with elite sprinter Kaden Groves added to the incomparable Mathieu van der Poel. In what could be a very close sprint, this might be what gives him the edge.

The race is calm as we enter the final 40km, the wins currently not a factor.

40KM TO GO

"Yellow is an objective," Philipsen confirmed a few days ago during the team presenation. "This is a real first opportunity for me to take the yellow jersey. There won't be many in the future, so it's an important day on Saturday."

"I don't want to ruin my Tour if I don't win on Saturday. The Tour lasts 3 weeks and there are lots of opportunities to come, but Saturday is probably the nicest one."

'A lot of chances' – Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen reunite to target success on multiple fronts during Tour de France's opening week

It is also a priority for Milan.

"I've been waiting a long time for this moment, and we have done a lot of work for it. I know it's not like any other day, I know the yellow jersey is up for grabs,” he told the media before the Tour. "I know what's up for grabs and the importance of it all, but I'm trying to enjoy it too. Having a chance to win doesn't happen often, so I want to enjoy it."

'I've been waiting a long time for this moment' – Jonathan Milan not feeling the pressure to win first Tour de France sprint

The victory won’t necessarily go to one of those three riders. Biniam Girmay was the star of last year’s sprints; Dylan Groenewegen is very difficult to beat on a good day, and usually picks up one stage win at every Tour he rides; Phil Bauhaus has come close to stage wins in recent years; Jordi Meeus comes into this Tour in great form, having won on the Champs-Élysées at his last Tour stage a couple of years ago; and if Wout van Aert goes for the sprint, he can never be discounted.

For now, it's Philipsen's Alpecin team who lead the peloton under the 30km to go banner.

30KM TO GO

Here's the full story on Filippo Gann's abandon.

Filippo Ganna first abandon of 2025 Tour de France after mid-stage crash

Mattias Skjelmose had a mechanical and has just made his way back to the peloton. He had Nys to help him, but mostly had to fend for himself, as Lidl focus on looking after Milan for the sprint.

Lenny Martinez is stil out the back and looks in a bad place. He's really suffering.

Another mechanical, this time for Lewis Askey.

Visma-Lease a Bike lead around the corner, and have strung the peloton out.

Axel Laurance is off the back, having seemingly had some kind of a problem.

The pace has slowed again and the peloton bunched up, as they pass under the 20km to go banner.

20KM TO GO

And now it's strung out again, with Visma doing the work at the front.

It's stretching out some more, the pace higher. There's a chance of splits...

There's a split, and it's near the front!

SPLITS

There are only about 30 riders in the front group. Vingegaard and Pogacar are both there.

Primož Roglič has missed the split.

Van der Poel is present and pushing on. That suggests Philipsen is present.

Merlier and Milan are both in the second group. They're 17 seconds behind.

Evenepoel has also been caught out! He's in the second group.

Girmay is in the front group.

The gap is 20 seconds, 13km from the finish.

Van Aert is in the second group, surprisingly - especially as it was Visma who caused the split.

Alpecin are very well represented in the front group, with Philipsen, Groves and Van der Poel all present. This feels like their stage to lose.

Jorgenson, Mas and O'Connor are also in the front group.

In terms of fast finishers, Girmay, Wærenskjold, Ballerini, Albanese, Watson, Ivan Garcia and Mezgec are all in the front group and could challenge Philipsen.

The gap is growing, it's up to nearly 30 seconds. A reminder than Evenepoel and Roglič are both in the second group and losing time.

10KM TO GO

Visma are more eager to push on than UAE. That might be because Almeida is in the second group.

Lidl and Soudal are leading the chase in the second group. This must be infuriating for their sprinters Milan and Merier, having spent so long preparing for this day.

They might yet get back into contention - the lead group has slowed with no team wanting to set the pace.

But the gap has been allowed to grow, up to 40 seconds. Just 6.5km left to ride.

Alpecin have taken it up again and are leading the front group.

They're under the 5km to go banner with a 40 second lead. Surely the chasing group aren't returning to contest for the stage win.

5KM TO GO

There's been a crash towards the back of the front group - O'Connor is down!

CRASH

The incident occured inside the final 5km, so O'Connor should be awarded the same time as the fornt group.

Mas was also caught out and is having to chase back on.

Other teams are pacing at the front other than Alpecin now.

Uno-X take over at the front with a line of three riders, as they enter the final 2km.

There are four Uno-X riders, they're looking good with 1.5km to go.

Still Uno-X lead as they enter the final kilometre.

1KM TO GO

But here comes the Alpecin train...

Stewart starts his sprint early...

Philipsen comes flying past to take the victory, and the yellow jersey!

PHILIPSEN WINS

Girmay finished behind him 2nd, but wasn't even close.

The Roglič / Evenepoel chase group arrived about 40 seconds later. That's a hefty time loss so early in the race.

After Uno-X's good work, Søren Wærenskjold managed third place.

That's Philipsen's tenth career Tour stage win. For all the form shown by Merlier and Milan, he remains the leading sprinter of this generation, and this victory feels like the crowning moment of his career.

As for the GC race, already, before a proper hill has even been climbed, Pogačar and Vingegaard are 40 seconds up. There were a lot of GC rivals caught out in the split, most notably Evenepoel, Roglič and Almeida.

There weren’t many other GC contenders in that front group: Jorgenson and Mas were the only other major names there, in addition to in-form outside bets Tobias Halland Johannessen and Kévin Vauquelin.

Assuming Ben O’Connor isn’t hurt from his crash inside the final 5km, he should also be a winner from the day, set to be awarded the same time as that group.

That was another expertly executed team manoeuvre from Alpecin-Deceuninck, one of many they’ve done over the years. They were the best represented group in that front group, and managed to hold both Van der Poel and Groves back to lead Philipsen out perfectly for the stage win.

Almost half the peloton finished further down from the Evenepoel/Roglič/Milan/Merlier group that arrived 39 seconds down, with multiple riders losing more time.

Vlasov lost 1:06; Kuss 2:05, Arensman, Storer and Dunbar 5:18; and Simon Yates 6:31.

Poor Lenny Martinez was last home, arriving at 9:11. Given how much he was suffering all day, merely making it to the finish was a success. He’ll be hoping that whatever affected him today clears ahead of tomorrow’s stage.

One big name rider who has lost a lot of time today is Adam Yates. He finished in the group 5:18 adrift. While he’s here to ride as a domestique for Tadej Pogačar, such a big time loss already means the team can’t use him as a potential GC threat.

Thanks for joining us today, for what was, despite the flat parcours, a typically dramatic opening stage of the Tour de France. Jasper Philipsen claimed the glory, and will wear the yellow jersey he’s longed for ever since the opening stage was announced, while the GC race has already ignited with Pogačar and Vingegaard already landing blows over their rivals.

Be sure to return again tomorrow, where the GC action is set to once again ignite, this time over the race’s first significant hills.