Status: 06/26/2021 5:57 p.m.
Julian Alaphilippe won the chaotic start of the 108th Tour de France and secured the first yellow jersey of this year’s Tour of France.
The world champion won on Saturday (26.06.2021) on the 197.8 km long and hilly first stage from Brest to Landerneau. Alaphilippe (Team Deceuninck-QuickStep) relegated the Australian Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) and last year’s second Primoz Roglic (Slovenia / Jumbo-Visma) to the places.
“I couldn’t have imagined that,” said Alaphilippe after the race. The 29-year-old emphasized: “It’s a great feeling.” His teammates had “super shielded him all day” and remained calm even after the mass falls.
Many drivers involved in mass falls
The day was overshadowed by two mass falls. A spectator with a large cardboard sign first brought down the 36-year-old Martin, then several dozen drivers went down. The incident occurred a good 46 kilometers before the finish of the 1st stage in Landerneau.
There was another crash about 7.5 kilometers from the finish – among other things, André Greipel and Chris Froome were caught in the second mass crash. As a result, the field of drivers divided again.
Sütterlin has to give up – Martin can continue
Tony Martin after his fall
Image: dpa
Martin was able to continue the race with his arm open after his first fall, but the tour has already ended for his German professional cyclist Jasha Sütterlin. The Freiburg resident could no longer drive after the mass fall.
With that, Martin was once again unlucky on the tour. In 2012, the Cottbus native suffered a broken scaphoid bone on the first stage. Three years later, Martin broke his collarbone after a fall on the sixth stage and had to finish the tour in the yellow jersey.
Source: sportschau.de