Harrogate, 5th of July – 2014
“A German and two Frenchmen..” sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but record-breaking, Jens Voigt (Trek Factory Racing), Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) however had ambitions of writing the 190 kilometer long first stage of Tour de France from Leeds to Harrogate into a fairytale. The trio broke clear early on to form the initial breakaway.
But the German diesel engine found the pace too low in the group and vanished from the disbelieving French duo at the first intermediate sprint to continue on his own. And it was an impressively festive scene watching the 42-year-old legend pushing his bike through the crowd on the third category climb, Cote des Buttertubs. Behind him, the peloton stretched out and Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador was nursed over the slope by his teammates in the front of the pack.
The sprinter teams shut down the Jens Voigt fairytale as they didn’t want to miss the opportunity of not only a stage win but the leader’s jersey as well and Lotto-Belisol and Cannondale were the significantly eager engines in the bunch. Voigt was swept up with 60 kilometers to go but secured the mountain jersey.
Entering the finale, Tinkoff-Saxo were in the mix up front side by side with the sprinter teams protecting Alberto Contador. But it was Mark Cavendish’s Omega-Pharma Quick Step who took control of the sprint with 4 kilometers and kept picking up the pace thundering towards the finish line. Going under the red kite, Fabian Cancellara (Trek Racing Factory) attempted to complete one of his old, well-known moves by leaping away for the win. But he was passed hundred meters from the line where Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) delivered a superb performance taking the stage win and the leader’s jersey. Unfortunately, Cavendish was brought to the ground in a violent crash at high pace.
Tinkoff-Saxo Aussie, Michael Rogers finished 5th in the finale and the team managed to guide Contador safely across the finish line:
“It was a very good start of the race for us as no one was injured and Michael is already demonstrating good form. It was a very unfortunate end of the stage to see the sprinters hit the deck and I hope they are all well and able to continue. But in general, it was a pleasant and actually less nervous first stage of the Tour compared to previous Tours where we have seen big groups of riders piling up on the road. And the amount of spectators along the roads was just amazing. It’s beautiful to witness this kind of support from the British fans and I just hope that they take care of each other and of the riders as well. Tomorrow’s stage is, in my eyes, an English version of Amstel Gold Race. It’s going to get tough and our focus is solely Alberto getting through safely,” said DS, Philippe Mauduit after the stage.
