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Alaphilippe wins Tour de France’s crash-marred first stage, pulls on yellow

Michael Woods' GC hopes dashed in late crash

June 26, 2021
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World champion Julian Alaphilippe took the first stage of the 2021 Tour de France, in the first of a few days in Brittany, to pull on the yellow jersey in Brest. He’s the first Frenchman to seize the race lead on Stage 1 since Christopher Moreau in 2001. The day was marred by two huge crashes, the second of which killed the GC dreams of several riders. Angel Lopez, Richie Porte, Guillaume Martin and Richie Porte lost between 1:49 and 2:16. Michael Woods lost nearly 9:00. The top Canadian was Guillaume Boivin in 31st.

The Course

Stage 1 was a lumpy run for the puncheurs: three Cat. 4 and Cat. 3 climbs and innumerable uncategorized climbs over 198 km. The final categorized climb to the finish, Cat. 3 Côte de la Fosse aux Loups, was 3.2 km at 5.3 percent, with the steepest bit right at the beginning.

It was a good day to be in the Tour’s first breakaway, for although a stage win wasn’t likely, there were polka dots to contest. The break wasn’t established until after the first climb, but a sextet formed before Climb 2. The six riders, an even mix of WorldTour and ProTour fellows, battled for the King of the Mountains jersey while Deceuninck-Quick Step and Alpecin-Fenix pulled the peloton.

Just for Stage 1, Alpecin-Fenix was clad in a special jersey that initially was going to be just for Thursday’s team presentation. The purple and gold kit was an homage to van der Poel’s legendary grandfather Raymond Poulidor, who raced for Mercier-BP-Hutchinson.

The fugitives were allowed only a short leash and the uncategorized climbs were longer and steeper in the second half of the route. It wasn’t likely that they would get far beyond Climb 4, the Cat. 4 Côte de Stang ar Garront. After that ascent Anthony Perez (France/Cofidis) and Ide Schelling (The Netherlands/Bora-Hansgrohe) were tied with two points.

Schelling went solo and with 66 km to go he was the only remaining escapee.

The race’s first intermediate sprint was located on a slight incline in Braparts, so the green jersey aspirants lined up in their colour blocks. Caleb Ewan grabbed the second-most points, with Peter Sagan third.

The climax of Schelling’s fine day out was topping the penultimate climb, Cat. 4 Côte de Saint-Rivoal, ahead of the field to pull on the polka dot jersey at the end of the day, the first Dutchman to do so since Johnny Hoogerland in 2011.

There was a massive crash in the peloton at the top of Saint-Rivoal when Tony Martin hit a fan holding a sign for the TV cameras and not watching the race. It was chaos as almost the entire field crashed or was held up.

For the most part, Movistar, Ineos Grenadiers and Deceuninck-Quick Step got through at the front. They slackened the pace and it took a long time for most of the peloton to regroup. Wout Van Aert, Sagan and Angel Lopez were all still behind. Jasha Sütterlin (Germany/DSM) had to abandon.

With Sagan etcetera having returned, Schelling submitted to the will of the bunch with 27 km to race. Heading towards Côte de la Fosse aux Loups, the stage win and GC teams concentrated on positioning their leaders.

Then there was another huge crash with 8 km remaining. Woods was caught up in it. The race was on and there was no stopping the small lead group.

Deceuninck-Quick Step kept winding it up for Alaphilippe at the base of the climb. Sagan fell off the pace. Alaphillipe attacked with 2.2 km remaining. Pierre Latour, Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič chased, but soon Latour was doing the job by himself.

The French buccaneer’s long-range attack stuck and he sucked his thumb in celebration to honour his newborn son.

The GC men who didn’t suffer blows on Saturday were Pogačar, Roglič, Geraint Thomas, Richard Carapaz, Enric Mas, Rigoberto Uran, David Gaudu and Wilco Kelderman,

If you liked Saturday’s Côte de la Fosse aux Loups finish, you’ll love Sunday’s Mur de Bretagne conclusion. It’s an early opportunity for Michael Woods to snag a win.

2021 Tour de France Stage 1
1) Julian Alaphilippe (France/Deceuninck-Quick Step) 4:39:05
2) Michael Matthews (Australia/BikeExchange) +0:08
3) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) s.t.
31) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +0:51
70) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) +2:16
154) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +8:49

2021 Tour de France GC
1) Julian Alaphilippe (France/Deceuninck-Quick Step) 4:38:55
2) Michael Matthews (Australia/BikeExchange) +0:10
3) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) +0:12
31) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +1:01
70) Hugo Houle (Canada/Astana-Premier Tech) +2:26
154) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Start-up Nation) +8:59