A fine victory for Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ), a repeat of last year’s opening stage win and claiming the first Yellow Jersey of the race in the process. He had to do it the hard way as well, crashing earlier in the stage and requiring treatment several times on a badly cut knee, but Bouhanni overcame his pain and discomfort to take the win ahead of John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) and Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).
Bonus seconds
I spoke about it in my race preview, and many others have mentioned it on twitter; in a race without high mountain finishes or time trials, every second counts, so picking up bonus second when you can is crucial. With only Christophe Laborie (Bretagne-Seche Environnment) in the break today there were bonus seconds available for the peloton at the intermediate sprints and it was no shock to see that Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and Sylvain Chavanel each bagged themselves a second and that could matter at the end of the race. Gianni Meersman and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) also made sure they earned some bonus seconds, both riders can climb better than the pure sprinters and could be setting themselves up to take the Yellow Jersey later in the race, though neither is an obvious overall contender in my opinion.
Attrition
As always happens on these seemingly innocuous sprint stages, crashes strike and illness lurks, each seeking to hobble the contenders and affect the outcome of the race. The first victim was Tejay van Garderen (BMC) who quit about halfway through the stage citing stomach ailments, he was ill over the previous 36 hours but despite the symptoms improving he felt too weak to continue. There were also crashes galore, Bouhanni, Maxime Monfort (Lotto Belisol), Taylor Phinney (BMC), Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky), Jose Serpa and Mattia Cattaneo (both Lampre-Merida) all hit the deck prior to a big pile up with 20km to go. That pile up saw a number of riders on the ground and many riders held up, causing the peloton to split and a fair number of significant riders to lose time, probably taking them out of contention for overall victory. The list of riders who lost time includes Romain Bardet (AG2R), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne-Seche), Michael Albasini (Orica GreenEDGE), Lieuwe Westra (Astana), John Gadret (Movistar), Chris Anker Sorensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Jonathan Hivert (Belkin), Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp), Julien Simon (Cofidis), Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEDGE) and many more.
Rui Costa attempted to neutralize the pace at the front so that it could all come back together. However Giant-Shimano weren’t interested and drove that lead group on, then a little later, Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Belkin joined in, none of the teams will have made friends in the process, but they could see the opportunity to win the stage and take the race lead. With sprinters like Matthew Goss (Orica GreenEDGE) and Thor Hushovd (BMC) caught behind, keeping the pace high suited their own fast finishers. As that front group got closer to the finish, more teams took up the pace setting and the fate of the riders trapped behind was sealed. Ultimately Giant-Shimano failed to reap the reward for their efforts, Degenkolb lost his train as they reached the final kilometre and was left to fend for himself, taking Bouhanni’s wheel but unable to beat him to the line.
Looking ahead to stage two
Stage two: Rambouillet – Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche
Image from http://www.letour.com/indexPNC_us.html
Another sprint finish seems likely but with crosswinds possible and some shallow ramps in the final 3km there is an element of unpredictability. It should suit a slightly different sort of sprinter but Bouhanni will certainly fancy his chances of doubling up.
If the winds are strong then the front group could be much reduced by the time it reaches the finish, if Omega Pharma-Quick Step are responsible for that then this stage could belong to Tom Boonen and yet m0re GC aspirants could find themselves adrift.
The Week in Cycling 