Tour de France stage one - Philipsen wins sprint to take yellow jersey

BBC News

18 hours ago

Update:
Date: 17:29 BST
Title: What are the GC standings after stage one of the Tour de France?
Content:
Update:
Date: 17:25 BST
Title: What was the result for stage one of the Tour de France?
Content:
Update:
Date: 17:14 BST
Title: I have dreamt about yellow jersey - Philipsen
Content: Stage winner Jasper Philipsen: "It's really amazing. My 10th victory is something I will never forget.
"The team performance was incredible. I think we were there all day. It was very nervous but we knew today could be our day and we have to be in the front and we were there in the split.
"The team did amazing and in the end we could just use our strength and finish it off.
"I have dreamt about [the yellow jersey]. Already I had the green jersey from two years ago but to have the yellow jersey hanging somewhere in my house in the next years is going to be amazing."
Update:
Date: 17:09 BST
Title: 'For us, wearing the yellow jersey is the highest we can achieve'
Content: Alpecin-Deceuninck's sporting director Christoph Roodhooft said: "It's unbelievable, we were there all day, waiting for the right moment.
"When the split came, we were there with five [riders in the front group] so it's amazing, yes.
"We were there all day, trying to save energy but being where we had to be all the time, trying to be in control of the situation.
"We know what the yellow [jersey] means and for a team like ours, it is the highest we can achieve."
Update:
Date: 16:57 BST
Title: 'We had the horsepower to deliver' Philipsen at finish
Content: Alpecin-Deceuninck's Australian sprinter Kaden Groves: "There were echelons and the race split with about 25km to go. That's what we expected actually, and we had numbers in the front [group] who could dictate the race.
"We spent a lot of energy to keep [the second group] away but also had the horsepower to deliver Jasper pretty well."
Update:
Date: 16:39 BST
Title: Post
Content: That's just Jasper Philipsen's third win of the season, but it means he is the first sprinter to claim the yellow jersey on the opening day since 2020.
Update:
Date: 16:35 BST
Title: Yellow jersey - Philipsen wins stage one
Content: It goes like a dream for Alpecin-Deceuninck, as their lead-out train puts Jasper Philipsen in position to claim the stage win.
The Belgian rider takes the opportunity to sprint home and he ends up being well clear of Biniam Girmay.
The 27-year-old claims his 10th stage win in the Tour de France and his first yellow jersey.
Update:
Date: 500m to go
Title: Post
Content: Groves and Van der Poel hit the front.
Update:
Date: 1km to go
Title: Post
Content: Uno-X Mobility still lead the way, with Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay lurking.
Update:
Date: 2km to go
Title: Post
Content: UAE's Tim Wellens is now at the front, then is replaced by Uno-X Mobility's lead-out team.
Update:
Date: 4km to go
Title: Post
Content: Top sprinters Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan are trapped in the second group.
Jayco–AlUla's leader Ben O'Connor goes down, but we're now inside the safety zone so the Australian GC contender will get the same time.
Update:
Date: 5km to go
Title: Post
Content: Tadej Pogacar now takes a turn at the front of the lead group, which features 36 riders and is more than 30 seconds clear of the second bunch.
Update:
Date: 7km to go
Title: Post
Content: This was supposed to be the first chance for a sprinter to claim the yellow jersey on the opening day since Alexander Kristoff won in Nice in 2020.
Could that opportunity now be slipping away?
Update:
Date: 9km to go
Title: Post
Content: Mathieu van der Poel and Australian debutant Kaden Groves are at the front of the first group, which also features Alpecin-Deceuninck team-mates Xandro Meurisse and Jasper Philipsen.
Update:
Date: 12km to go
Title: Post
Content: Now then, they've put the hammer down at the front of the peloton and the group has split.
The second bunch is 20 seconds back and includes Remco
Evenepoel, who was briefly forced onto the grass at the side of the road.
Jonas Vingegaard is doing plenty of work in the first group. Could it, in fact, be one of the GC contenders that wins today, not one of the sprinters?
Update:
Date: 16km to go
Title: Who won stage one of last year's Tour de France?
Content: Let's not forget it was Romain Bardet who clinched victory for DSM-Firmenich PostNL (now Picnic PostNL) on stage one of last year's Tour, with the help of team-mate Frank van den Broek.
Update:
Date: 20km to go
Title: Post
Content: These early stages mean so much for the teams not aiming to be in contention for the general classification title.
Stage wins are valuable to attracting - and maintaining - sponsors while this year
marks the end of the current three-year ranking cycle, which determines the 18 teams
for the next three years on the WorldTour.
Points are earned through stage wins, time in the leader's
jersey and the final overall classification, and the most points all season are
on offer at the Tour de France.
Update:
Date: 25km to go
Title: Post
Content: I mentioned earlier that Jasper Philipsen and Wout van Aert both have nine stage wins.
Dylan
Groenewegen is another multiple stage winner having claimed his sixth last year.
Jayco–AlUla's Dutch sprinter will also be looking to get in the mix and potentially grab that yellow jersey.
Update:
Date: 30km to go
Title: Post
Content: It's a flat ride back into Lille now, with teams vying for position as they prepare for the long home straight and a sprint to the finish in front of the Citadel.
Update:
Date: 40km to go
Title: Ouch! - Bissegger becomes second rider to withdraw
Content: Stefan Bissegger of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale becomes the second rider to withdraw from this year's Tour having also hit the deck earlier.
Meanwhile, Simon Yates has rejoined the peloton after a puncture but Lenny Martinez of Bahrain Victorious is struggling off the back of the group.