Crashes mar first stage

LANDERNEAU (France) • A roadside spectator holding a cardboard banner caused a massive pile-up during the first stage of the Tour de France, leaving several top riders being held up yesterday, while another huge pile-up with about 7km left brought down Chris Froome and others.

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe won the stage, a 197.8km ride from Brest to Landerneau, to take the inaugural leader's yellow jersey.

The world champion burst away from the main pack with 2.3km left of a brutal climb up to the Cote de la Fosse aux Loups, and none of his rivals could match his power.

"I hope everyone is OK. I'm calling on the fans to be careful. It's nice to see the fans back on the side of the road, but please be careful," said the Deceuninck-Quick-Step rider, his knee bloodied from an earlier crash.

Australian Michael Matthews took second place, with Slovenian Primoz Roglic coming home third, eight seconds behind.

The day saw hordes of unmasked fans decked out in red-and-white polka-dot caps and shirts lining the narrow Brittany country lanes as France eases its Covid-19 restrictions.

In the first incident, German Tony Martin was sent crashing when he rode straight into the sign that said "Allez Opi-Omi" (Come on grandad-granny, in a mix of French and German).

The fan who held the sign had been looking the other way, at television cameras, instead of the oncoming riders.

The Jumbo rider, who was riding near the head of the pack and close to excited roadside spectators, fell and brought down a huge number of riders behind him.

The crash held up the race for five minutes while bikes and bodies were untangled.

The race leader slowed down to allow the stragglers to catch up and, despite the spectacular tangle, only one rider, Germany's Jasha Sutterlin of DSM, has so far had to pull out due to the accident.

Italian champion Sonny Colbrelli and Dutch rider Wout van Aert, who ran over Martin before falling head over heels, had both been among the favourites to win the first-stage hilltop finish but were both badly delayed.

Welsh Ineos rider Geraint Thomas and defending champion Tadej Pogacar appeared unhurt, though the latter told ITV "it was really nasty today" and that having his rivals lose time due to the accidents was "nothing to celebrate".

Last year's runner-up Roglic looked to have fallen heavily but recovered sufficiently to finish among the top three.

Overall contenders Tao Geoghegan Hart of Britain, as well as Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez, were also among the riders who lost considerable time on the opening day of the three-week race. Hart finished 5min 33sec off the pace while Lopez crossed the line 1:49 behind Alaphilippe.

The second crash occurred when the peloton was going around 70kmh some 7km from the finish line. It left around 20 riders stricken on the ground and needing attention, including four-time champion Froome, Marc Haller, Andre Greipel and Ion Izagirre.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS