Tour de France 2020: Kristoff sprints to yellow

Alexander Kristoff storms to the yellow jersey at the end of a tumultuous and wet race. Mads Pedersen and Cees Bol finish in second and third. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 1st stage Tour de France 2020

1. Alexander Kristoff (nor)
2. Mads Pedersen (den) s.t.
3. Cees Bol (nld) s.t.
4. Sam Bennett (irl) s.t.
5. Peter Sagan (svk) s.t.
6. Elia Viviani (ita) s.t.
7. Giacomo Nizzolo (ita) s.t.
8. Bryan Coquard (fra) s.t.
9. Anthony Turgis (fra) s.t.
10. Jasper Stuyven (bel) s.t.

GC after stage 1
1. Alexander Kristoff (nor)
2. Mads Pedersen (den) + 0.04
3. Cees Bol (nld) + 0.06
4. Sam Bennett (irl) + 0.10
5. Peter Sagan (svk) s.t.
6. Elia Viviani (ita) s.t.
7. Giacomo Nizzolo (ita) s.t.
8. Bryan Coquard (fra) s.t.
9. Anthony Turgis (fra) s.t.
10. Jasper Stuyven (bel) s.t.

Race report
Michael Schär, Fabien Grellier and Cyril Gautier jump clear once the flag is dropped. The trio opens up a gap of 3 minutes.

A lot of riders hit the deck on the wet roads. Pavel Sivakov is among the most prominent victims. He crashes several times in the rainy conditions, while Caleb Ewan also loses contact after a crash.

Grellier drops back in the lead group with 62 kilometres remaining. The other two are brought back at the second ascent of the Côte de Rimiez. Giacomo Nizzolo is dropped on the climb, but he regains contact.

The peloton slows down after all the crashes, opening up possibilities for Ewan to return.

Benoît Cosnefroy attacks inside the last 20 kilometres. The sprint trains takes shape behind the young Frenchman and the catch is made after a 6 kilometres effort.

Alexander Kristoff outguns Mads Pedersen and Cees Bol with a powerful and well timed finish.

Sivakov crosses the line more than 13 minutes behind the stage winner.

Other interesting reads:
– route stage 1
– KOM classification stage 1
– points classification stage 1