The 1st stage of the Tour de France 2016 took place on July 2nd, 2016. It led over 188 kilometers from Le Mont-Saint-Michel to Utah Beach . There were two mountain classifications in the 4th category and an intermediate sprint in La Haye after 118.5 kilometers. Apart from the two small mountain ratings, the stage ran through fairly flat terrain, so a mass sprint and thus one of the sprinters in the first yellow jersey of the tour was to be expected.
The escape group of the day was initiated by two riders from the Bora-Argon 18 team : Jan Bárta and Paul Voss attacked only shortly after the official start of the stage, accompanied by Leigh Howard (IAM). Later on, Anthony Delaplace (FVC) and Alex Howes (CDT) caught up with the three leaders. Before the first mountain classification, Paul Voss pulled away, scored the first mountain point and continued his escape on his own in order to win the second mountain classification 18 kilometers further. Then he dropped back to the four remaining outliers.
Shortly after the second mountain classification, the outliers had a lead of around four minutes. The teams from Lotto Soudal and Etixx-Quick Step then increased the speed in the peloton in order to avert the danger of the winds along the coast and to bring their own sprinters André Greipel (LTS) and Marcel Kittel (EQS) forward. Alberto Contador (TNK) fell in a corner and then had to be treated by the tour doctor, but was able to catch up with the peloton again when the course moved away from the coast and the pace slowed down again. At the intermediate sprint, which was won by Leigh Howard (IAM), the lead of the escape group was only about 20 seconds. Now Delaplace and Howes attacked from the escape group and were able to stay ahead for up to 183 kilometers.
Then the teams began to build up the sprint. A few meters from the finish, a fall of two Katusha riders caused a crack in the peloton after nine riders. Of these nine racing drivers, Mark Cavendish (DDD) was able to prevail in a long sprint ahead of Marcel Kittel (EQS) and Peter Sagan (TNK). Cavendish took over his first yellow jersey and also the lead in the points classification. The fifth-placed Edward Theuns was the first to wear the white jersey , with two mountain points Paul Voss was the first to wear the mountain jersey on the 2016 Tour and the most aggressive rider of this stage was Anthony Delaplace.
Scoring
Intermediate sprint in La Haye after 118.5 km at 41 m
