Stage One of the Tour takes us through the Netherlands to Brussels, Belgium. Along the way the peloton will e♎xpereince the sea-side roads – will the wind play a role today?

Good morning and welcome back to the Tour de France. After yesterday's exciting prologue, things really get underway today, with 223.5 kilometers from Rotterdam to Brussels.  Part of the route 🌃goes along the North Sea, so we may see wind echelons come into action.  But in the end it will probably come down to a mass sprint.

We have a long neutral section thi🐲s morning, and the riders are now all obediently following the race car.

Two riders are missing today.  M⛎athias Frank (BMC) and Manuel Cardoso (Footon) both crashed heavily yesterday and are out.  Cardoso is suffering from a broken jaw and shoulder blade.

Mathias Frank of BMC Racing Team went down on the wet course and crossed the finish line dripping blood all over the place.  But the worst of his problems turned out to be a broken right thumb, a torn muscle in his left thigh and a badly cut lip.   Not a nice way to end your debut Tour de France.

The sun is shining! What a pleasant surprise!  It is only supposed to get up to 25° C🐼elsius today.  But there may well be  lot of wind blowing off the North Sea....

The peloton is on the Erasmus Bridge, which ൩is full of fans.  An incredibleꦰ turnout.

We seem to be having some sort of ceremony on the br🐻idge.  The p🦹eloton has stopped, there is a platform.  Perhaps we will have the "official" start here.

Now we hear the French national anthem.

Wha𒉰t is today's profile like?  Well, flat is the word that comes to mind.  Lots of flat.

The riders𒁏 are looking a bit confused about the whole ceremony, and no doubt are ▨itching to get on their bikes and going again.

And they are off again!

Cancellara is at the head of the field, in his yellow outfit.  Next to him is Lance ꦡArmstrong.

Fränk ꧃Schleck and Christian Vande Velde have a litt🦩le chat.

The bikes of a number of riders were scanned for illegal motors.  Everyone passed theꩵ test.  And “everyone” was:  A. Schleck, Cancellara, Fuglsang, Armstrong, Wiggins, Flecha, Boasson Hagen, Basso, Zabriskie, T. Martin, Monfort, Vogondy, L. L. Sanchez, and Costa.

The race has started officiꦜally now, and La🧔rs Boom of Rabobank takes off about one-half  of a second later.

1km remaining from 223km

Ma🤪arten Wynants of QuickStep and Alan Perez of Euskaltel are with him.  They have a niꦺce little lead.

A few people turned out in Rotterdam to watch the prologue yesterdayဣ – a few hundred thousand, that is.  Authorities estimate that 400,000 to 45ꦗ0,000 were along the course Satudray.

This trio is really moving ✃fast.  They alr𝔉eady have a 1:20 gap on the field.

The field is happy to let these three go.

The gap has now leaped to over four minutes.

212km remaining from 223km

And the gap hits the five minute mark.

Meanwhile the g🍰ap is over six minutes.  Boom is our virtual leader.

At the start in Rotterdam, Daniel Benson spoke to world champion Caꦓdel Evans about his ride in the prologue and his aim for the next few days. “It was medium, not bad not good. It was good to get things started. I would have preferred to have been a bit closer to the other GC contenders but it wasn’t to bad. The first thing now is to stay out of trouble.”

Daniel Benson also spoke t🌼o HTC head honcho, Bob Stapleton about Mark Cavendish’s chances for today. “I don’t have concerns about him. He&rs💧quo;s the fastest he can be. I’m not nervous at all. I think he thrives on people that question him.”

And the gap is now seven minutes.

Martijn Maaskant of ꩵGarmin-Transiti🐎ons jumps fom the peloton and tries to get away.

Ah, that is why Maaskant took off.  He pulls over to teh side of the road and ex🧔changes a number of hugs and kisses with family and friends.

 Geraint Thomas (Sky) was the proud wearer of the British national champions jersey today in Rotterdam. It’s the first time he’s donned the kit but instead of a white jersey and shorts combo, he decided on black shorts. “It feels special. To represent your country and have this jersey on my back at the greatest race in the world is special. I wanted to keep it real and keep it old school. I prefer the black shorts.

Lots of people out on the beach🌸, enjoying the beautiful summer weat♏her.

Manuel Quinziato’s sole responsibility for the stage will be keep Roman Kreuziger and Ivan Basso out of trouble. Daniel Benson spoke with him at the start. “We’re going to have a few stressful days but we’re happy it’s sunny and there isn’t much wind. We’ll look to keep Roman and Ivan out of trouble. We don’t have any sprinters so the important thing for us is to get through the first few stages without having any problems. Later in the race, afte꧋r the Alps, I can try and do something in a break, perhaps.”

For  those of you playing our Easton-Cyclingnews Wheelset a Day Giveaway during the Tour de France, here is your trivia question for the day:
Professional riders rack up thousands of miles a year in training. According to the team's own estimate, how many miles with BMC riders rack up this season?

Today's prize is an 🏅Easton EC𒁏90 Aero wheel set.  about the prize.

The gap has steadied now at rightꩲ about seven minutes.

Tyler Farrar starts today as one of the favourites. Can he celebrate Independence Day with a win for his American team Garmin-Transitions. Daniel Benson spoke to team boss Jonathan Vaughters and asked if the team had finalised their leadout train yet.

Who is leading what ranking after those few kilometres yesterday?  Here is the GC:

Not surpisingly, the points classification 🐓looks quite simil꧟ar.

HTC-Columbia's Tony Martin is the white jersey of best young rider today.

And here is how the teams rank:
1      Team Radioshack      0:31:25       
2     Team HTC - Columbia     0:00:01      
3     Garmin - Transitions     0:00:02      
4     Sky Professional Cycling Team     0:00:16      
5     Astana  &꧒nbsp;  0෴:00:20     

Which category is missing? Right, the mountain jersey. 🐻 There were no 🐻climbs yesterday (or today) which are polka-dot worthy.

Adam Hansen of HTC--Columbia has gone down hard.  There are fears he may have done something to a collarbone.  Teammate Bert Grabsch is withඣ him, helping to get the Australian back to the peloton.

Cancellara is trailing the field at the moment.  It's not a problem, thou🐽gh.  He like many others was simply answering the call of nature♌.

Tom Boonen was genuinely bummed not to be in the race today as he appeared outside the team bus this morning. "I didn't think it was going to be a problem being here, but it actually is," he told Cyclingnews, still very disappointed not to be at the start of this year's Tour de France.

171km remaining from 223km

The gap has gone up again, to 7:26.

170km remaining from 223km

Hansen is back💦 in the peloton at last.  Hope he is all r𒉰ight.

QuickStep's Sylvain Chavanel talked to Hedwig Kröner before the stage.  “To be putting a guy in a breakaway today would just be suicidal. I believe there are much more chances tomorrow.”

We now hear tꦫhat it was Mark Renshaw who 🤡helped Hansen back to the peloton and not Grabsch.

David Mlilar, Ivan Basso and others have crashed.  As far as we knowಞ they are all up and going again.  Apparently a dog ran onto the road and brought them down.

Basso has four helpers to bring him🌌 back to the peloton, but first he needs a new bike.

Millar has attached himself to the Liquigas𒈔 group moving up through the team cars.

Huge crowds🥃 here!  Looks like ღa mountain stage!

The number of people here along the road is really staggering.&ꦦnbsp; The Dutch l🦹ove their cycling!

So who are these three in the break group?

Lars Boom is a 24-year-old Dutchman with Rabobank, making his Tour debut. He has excellent credentials, having been world U23 time trial champ in 2007 and both road and time trial national champ in  2008.

He has been successful on the road, too. Last year he won the overall title in the Tour of Belgium, and took a stage in the Vuelta a Espana.  So far this year he has won a stage at Paris-Nice.
 

Hansen is with t෴he peloton, but continues to hang about 3 metres 🐬behind it.

Wynants, 28, is a Belgian riding for QuickStep.  He joined them in 20087, having previously ridden for Chocolade Jacques-T Interim.  He was U23 road champion in 2004.  This is his maiden Tour de France.

156km remaining from 223km

The gap is dropping slightly, now at 6:48.

ℱAlan P🃏erez Lezaun of Euskaltel-Euskadi is 27 years old.  He turned pro with Orbea in 2005, and joined his current team in 2007.  This is his second Tour. 

150km remaining from 223km

Millar is still having bike♊ issues stemming from his earlier crash.  He gets a 🅰new bike and is back in the peloton.

The gap c🉐ontinues to fall, and is now nearing six minut🌌es.

Boom takes the first🍰 intermediate sprint, ahead of Perez and Wynants.  They did not contest for the points.

This is the fifth time that the Tour has started in the Netherlands.  The others were Amsterdam (1954), Schev﷽eningen 🍬(1973), Leiden (1978) and 's-Hertogenbosch (1966).

146km remaining from 223km

The gap continues to come down, now at 5:34.

Hansen drops back again and again.  The tea🌟m doctor has told letour.fr that they suspect his collarbone is broke🌌n, but they are allowing him to continue in this stage as long as he can.  It will be off to hospital directly afterwards.

Once again, huge crowds along the roadside.

140km remaining from 223km

The ga🍎p is really plummeting now.  It is ap🎃proaching the three minute mark.

Basso drops back to th🌞e team car -- apparently just for a cha༺t.

Very interesting.  Basso shows us how to change a shoe whilst riding the Tour de Frဣance.....  He does get a certain amount of help from𓆏 the team car.

Saxo Bank leads the peloton.

Basso has been escorted back to the peloton.

Where do the riders in this race come from?&nꦦbsp; All over the place.  The most-represented country is, believe it or not, France, with 35 riders.  Spain is in a close second place, with 31 riders, followed by Italy (17), Germany (15),꧅ Belgium (13) and Australia (12).

Hansen continues to hang out by the raꦐce doctor and his team♌ car.

Team Sky head coach Shane Sutton has spoken to Eurosport television about Bradley Wiggins' prologue performance. Sutton is in the second Team Sky car in the race convoy.

125km remaining from 223km

The break is no🍰w entering the feed zone and collecting their lunch.

The riders have now covered 100km of the first stage. That leaves 123.5km to go. The race route changes direction ﷽slightly, heading towards Belgium. The riders will be pleased to have more ꦏof a tailwind for a while.

The peloton is now in the feed zone. The pace has dropped as riders grab their musette, throw them over their shoulders and begin to see what's for lunch. Probably small sandwiches, bars and gels for the second half of the race. Bo✱n Appetit!

The🅺 break has earned a few extra seconds as the trio work hard together.  

The Dutch roads are flanked by bike paths and so we've seen plenty of the public trying t💛o ride next to 🌠the riders. There was one young fella there, riding on the back of his dad's bike.

110km remaining from 223km

Nicholas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale) is getting treatment from the race doctor. He seemဣs to have taken a tumble but has no serious injuries.

Dave Mill⭕ar (Garmin-Transitions) has stopped next to his team car. He seems to be resolving a problem with his race radio. Now a small adjustment to his rear brake from the team💯, helping him get back to the peloton. Millar is wearing the green points jersey today. 

Sergio Paulinho of RadioSHack dros back to pick up some water ♍bottles.

Two 💜riders from the peloton went for a spin on the neighboring bike path.  They soon realized that 🌄wasn't such a good idea and got back on the road.

A handful of riders debuted new aerodynamic helmets in yesterday's prologue.   They have shorter tails and a removable visor. 168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Details here. 

A mass nature break for the peloton!

Caisse d'Epargne and HTC-Columbia now h🃏ave riders at the heaওd of the peloton.

Armstrong and🍸 teammates are near the back of the field, but now moving up.

Cancellara and Fr&au🍌ml;nk Schleck are also at the back of the field.

99km remaining from 223km

The g🍌ap has crept up to nearly five minutes again.

Bradley Wওiggins of Sky stops for some work on his bike.  A teammate is with him to bring him back up to😼 the front.

Brent Bookwalter of BMC finished 11th in the prologue, not as good as his second-place finish in the Giro opener, but still quite good.  “My ride was okay, but it wasn't blistering,” 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:he told Cyclingnews. 

93km remaining from 223km

Matt White of Garmin has confirmed that Millar wasn't injured ꦦearlier in the crash, but that his bike is still having some issues.

HTC-Columbia, 🎀Garmin-Transitions, and Cervelo all have a rider at the head of the field.  🔴Saxo Bank is right behind them.

89km remaining from 223km

The gap is coming down again, to just ov♓🍰er four minutes.

The leading trio drives through another section with many fans, who are happy to cheer 𓂃on their landsman Boom.

Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R was just by the team car and looks quite misshapen.&nb⭕sp; His jersey and pockets are stuffed full with water bottles and gels and other yummy things.

Jens Voigt is also picking u some bidons♔ from his Team Saxo Bank car.

HTC-Columbia's Tony Martin came oh-so-close to winning the prologue.  "In the first minutes, I was very disappointed, as I had realistic hope of getting the yellow jersey," Martin told Cyclingnews after the podium ceremony. "But then, I expected Fabian to show off a great performance here again today; in the end I'm happy about my second place.”
 

The three lꦑeaders go through a town, whose entire population seems to be out cheering an🌊d clapping.

WE don't want to sound like a broken record, but we are stunned by the nuꦿmber of fans out along the🉐 road today.

Dries Devenyns of Quic𒀰k Step took a tumble,🎐 but is up and going again quickly.

Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) spoke to Eurosport television before the start of the stage. He was pleased with his seventh place in yesterday's prologue.

Ad🐭am Hansen seems to be feeling better.  He&nb🍌sp; is now up at the front of the field.

Further ahead, Boom is starting to do some streꦗtching on the bike.

This is Farrar's second Tour de France and he insisted he was relaxed before the first sprint stage.

The leading trio movs into Belgium, with the sidewalks full of cheering ♐fans.

They approach the second in✃termediate sprint of the stage.

The point went to Wynants ah♏ead of Perez and Boom.

Mathieu Pe🅘get of Caisse d'Epargne is the next to visit the race d❀octor's car.

70km remaining from 223km

The Belgian streets are still line with fans, enjoy♒ing both the Tour and the beautiful weather.

Down goes the gap again, to jus🔯t over two minutes.

Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank was the big loser of the day yesterday, losing 1:09 on the stage, and he was 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:very upset with himself after his poor 💃performance. “I had a real shit day!” he twittered.

Looks like we had another crash in the field, but it all moved along again quickly.  A Milram rider went down and then a handful of ot🀅hers tumbled too.

The leaders went through ꦉthe final intermediate sprint. 🦄; Perez won this won, so each of the three has taken one today.

Alessa🍸ndro Ballan of BMC was one of those who went down,🎃 and he is still shaking it off and looking rather disgusted.

Ballan is now getting his tur🎀n at the doctor's car.  He has his left arm and leg sprayed.

The peloton has arrived in Antwerp.

59km remaining from 223km

And down comes the gap again, under two minutes.

In fact the lead is now barely ove꧒r a minute and a half.

Lampre has also moved towards the front of the field.&nbsཧp; They, too, have a sprinter who can wඣin today.

Cancellara took home his fifth Tour de France stage win, and admitted he has a secret weapon.  “168澳洲5最新开奖结果:The engine, that's me,” he said. 

The riders are still wending their way throughꦆ Antwerp.

53km remaining from 223km

The peloton is taking its tie now, and the gap has gone back up to 1:50.  Don't want to൲ catch thosꦯe escapees too early now, do we?

Bob Stapleton told Cylingnews that he held talks with Bjarne Riis about a possiblity of merging their two teams, but that it came to nothing.

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Read more about it here.

Wynants bellies up 🀅to the bar and gets a ꦇshot of whiskey. 

No wait, that🦩's not right.  He goes to the team car and gets💎 two fresh water bottles.

Hard to believe,💦 but there is actu💖ally another race going on!

Actually it is not going on right now, as the first stage of the Tour of Austria has already ended.  We won't disclose the name of the reader, but 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:you can see it here.

48km remaining from 223km

Liquigas has moved up to he♊lp with the lead work, as 💯has Sky.

A Sky rider is trying to brꦅeak f𒈔orm the field.  It is Serge Pauwels.

Once agai🌸n the three leaders drive through a town with the sidewalks full of fans.

The gap is𝕴 holding steady at just under two minutes.

David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) was one of the few to be 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:happy about the wet weather.  "But it is my strongest point to ride fast when it rains. However, I had in my mind that I crashed earlier this year during the time trial of the Tour of Algarve. But today, when I raced, the ꩵroad wasn't slippery at all. It was a very nice road and a great course."

Robbie McEwen knows all about the finish today in Brussels. He's won the Paris-Brussels classic four times.

Pauwels wasn't trying to get away, he was ♚just making a short visit to his family on the side of the road.  He is back in the field now.

36km remaining from 223km

There are lots of traffic islands and things in the road h♈ere.

We now hear that the Milram rider who went down earlier was Thomas Rohregger. 🌳; He has paid a short visit to the race doctor and is ok.

We now see RadioShack at the head of the field.

34km remaining from 223km

The gap is now down to 1:24.

33km remaining from 223km

Now the gap has reached the one minute mark.

Omega Pharma-Lotto is do𒁏inಞg its share of lead work now.

Wynants takes off, with Boom behind him. 

Perez can j🍒oin the other two, but t𒊎heir gap is now only 27 seconds.

Wynants has taken off on his own. 

Freire hs punctured and must work his way up alone through the team 𒁃cars.

Alexan🐈der Pliuschin has broken from the field and has joined Wylandts.

197km remaining from 223km

The two leaders have a minimal advantage.

🙈Freire fin🐼ally found two teammates to help pull him back up.

23km remaining from 223km

The two have built up thei﷽r lead slightly, it is now over half a minute.

Pliuschin attacks but can't get rid of Wynants.

Hans🗹en is still hanging on at t𓃲he end of the field.

22km remaining from 223km

And the gap continues to grow, up to 46 seconds.

20km remaining from 223km

The gap is nearly a minute now.ও  Will we have a mass 🍰sprint finish or will these two make it to the end alone?

If there is one man who knows something about sprinting in the Tour de France, it is Erik Zabel.  And he thinks sprinter Mark Cavendish is going to do well at this Tour, starting today.  168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Read more of the Ge𝓀rman's commen🦋ts here.

17km remaining from 223km

The peloton is moving along at a good clip now.  The sprinters' teams don't wanജt to let this chance slip away.

Christian Knees of Milram, the GErman national champion, has moved to the heaജd of the field.  He is riding🤡 for sprinter Gerald Ciolek.

There's a Garmin at the head of the field, but we see lots of HTC-Columbia﷽ behind him.

I൩ncredible how Wynants can still hold ⛄on like this.  He has been at the head of things from the word go today.

13km remaining from 223km

42 seconds left.  Wi💎ll these two𓆉 be chomped up by the fast moving mob on the last km?

212km remaining from 223km

Or sooner?  The gap is only 25 seconds.....

Johan Van Summeren of Garmn has done much of the chase lead ﷺwork.

The two leaders refuse to bow to destiny and pick up their speed.  It doesn💦't help, the gap is 15 seconds.

9km remaining from 223km

An HTC-Columbiaꩲ rider now at the head, really pushing the pace.

Wynan♛ts looks back✃ and sees the peloton getting closer and closer.

8km remaining from 223km

And that was it!  The break is over.

A Lampre🐠 rider ahead, with HTC🐬-Columbia, Garmin also to be seen.

7km remaining from 223km

The sprinters' teams start taking up positions.

The peloto🔯n is spread across this wide road, taking up the whole surface.

Millar moves up to help Farrar.

Hansen won't be helping Cavendish today.  He is at th🍬e wrong end of the peloton.

Lampre still leads.

all the big names are up there:  Petacchi, Freire, Ciolek, Hushovd, McEwen, Cavend🍸ish....

A crash at the sharp right hand turn!

Four or five top riders were dow𓆉n:  petacchi, cavendish, Freire

That changes everything!

HTC ꧋still leads the way.  Will they ride for Renshaܫw?

Another mass crash!  The road is blocked!

Maybe 30 riders still going. And another crash!

Pꦉetacchi takes it!  So he wasn't ꧂involved in that earlier crash.

They are still untangling themselves from teh big crash.  Farrar went down at some point land now walks to the f🧔ini♓sh line.

They riders are coming over the finish line in groups  The Schlecks and Cancellarꦡa come to the finish line only now.

Second place went to Renshaw and third🐷 to Hushovd.

We don't know of any injuries from these crashes, and hope of course that there are ౠnone.

We real𒈔ly do not such endings to stages and races.  A very sad way to decide a 🧜winner.

Petacchi rejoiced when he crossed the finishౠ line, but now looks more though꧟tful than overjoyed.

All the riders will be given the time of the winner, since the crashes happened so close to the finish.  There are ꦰno changes in the GC, either.

That was it for today.  Thanks for reading along.  Please join us again tomorrow, and let's hope for a cr⛄ash-free st𓆉age!

Stage:

1   Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini   5:09:38    
2  Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia      
3  Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team      
4  Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha      
5  Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française des Jeux      
6  Daniel Oss (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo  0:00:02  
7  Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne      
8  Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram      
9  Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi      
10  Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Phar🔯ma-Lotto