Marcel Kittel claimed the opening stage of the 2014 Tour de France today, beating Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Ramunus Navardauskus (Garmin-Sharp) in a sprint finish in Harrogate.
Today’s win marked Kittel’s second consecutive stage 1 victory in the Tour de France, as the German sprinter won the opening stage of last year’s race as well.
Meanwhile, today’s stage was highlighted by veteran Jens Voigt, who managed to escape his fellow breakaway companions, Nicolas Edet and Benoit Jarrier, and stay out front alone for than 50 kilometers today, thus claiming the King of the Mountains jersey before being caught.
Race Details
It wasn’t until the race entered into the final 30 kilometers, things really started to amp up, with teams such as Lotto-Belisol, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Tinkoff-Saxo and Sky all coming to the fore. And, with 15 kilometers remaining, said teams began ushering their respective sprinters into position.
From there, Omega Pharma seized control of the pace setting duties in attempt to move Kittel into position. However, a last minute surge by Fabian Cancellara momentarily shook up the field. But, the Swiss rider didn’t get far before being reeled in during the final 300 meters.
Shortly thereafter, Mark Cavendish and Simon Gerrans both went down in the crash marred finale. Cavendish managed to remount and finish the race, but the extent of his injuries remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Kittel profited from the slightly uphill finish to fend-off Sagan and Navardauskus for the win.
Stage 1 Results
GER 1 KITTEL, Marcel (GIANT-SHIMANO) 4:44:07 SVK 2 SAGAN, Peter (CANNONDALE) LTU 3 NAVARDAUSKAS, Ramunas (GARMIN SHARP) FRA 4 COQUARD, Bryan (EUROPCAR) AUS 5 ROGERS, Michael * (TINKOFF-SAXO) GBR 6 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) NOR 7 KRISTOFF, Alexander (KATUSHA) BEL 8 VANMARCKE, Sep (BELKIN) ESP 9 ROJAS GIL, Jose Joaquin (MOVISTAR) SUI 10 ALBASINI, Michael (ORICA GreenEDGE)
General Classification after Stage 1 GER 1 KITTEL, Marcel (GIANT-SHIMANO) 4:44:07 SVK 2 SAGAN, Peter (CANNONDALE) LTU 3 NAVARDAUSKAS, Ramunas (GARMIN SHARP) FRA 4 COQUARD, Bryan (EUROPCAR) AUS 5 ROGERS, Michael * (TINKOFF-SAXO) GBR 6 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) NOR 7 KRISTOFF, Alexander (KATUSHA) BEL 8 VANMARCKE, Sep (BELKIN) ESP 9 ROJAS GIL, Jose Joaquin (MOVISTAR) SUI 10 ALBASINI, Michael (ORICA GreenEDGE)
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