Gaviria sprints to yellow jersey at Tour de France debut as Froome crashes

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Fernando Gaviria Tour de France 2018 stage 1

Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) became the first rider to take a victory at his very first Tour de France appearance after he outsprinted Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) and Marcel Kittel (Team Katusha-Alpecin).

The Colombian didn’t waste any time in leaving an indelible mark over the 105th Tour de France, as he produced a perfect sprint on the uphill drag to Fontenay-la-Comte to win the opening stage of the race and don the first yellow jersey.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) crashed into a grass section on the side of the road with five kilometers left and was quickly back on his bike, but the speeding peloton did not wait as preparations for the final mass sprint had started. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) suffered a flat just outside the 3km to go banner, while Richie Porte and Adam Yates were also caught out and finished in the Froome group.

Romain Bardet, Mikel Landa, Vincenzo Nibali, Alejandro Valverde and Tom Dumoulin conversely, all finished in the main bunch having gained an unexpected early advantage over their key rivals that blows the Tour wide open.

Gaviria was left thrilled after his impressive stage win on his very first Tour de France, after outlasting world champion Sagan in a long struggle down an 800m home straight with Kittel, who won four stages on the 2017 Tour, leaving his bid too late and coming third.

“I just said to myself ‘go’ and had the legs luckily,” Gaviria said. “What an amazing day, nobody is happier than me. The team did amazing. Tomorrow I’ll be in yellow and try and keep it as long as possible.”

“I don’t know about keeping the yellow jersey because of the mountains, but I plan to fight for the green jersey (sprint points) all the way to Paris.”

Tour de France 2018 – stage 1 results (Noirmoutier-en-l’Île – Fontenay-le-Comte):

1Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors)

4:23:32

2Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe)

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3Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin)

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4Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)

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5Christophe Laporte (Cofidis)

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6Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo)

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7Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb)

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8John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo)

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9Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)

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10Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe)

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11Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)

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12Timothy Dupont (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

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13Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie)

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14Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)

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15Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors)

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16Michael Valgren (Astana)

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17Maximiliano Richeze (Quick-Step Floors)

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18Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors)

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19Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)

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20Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida)

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General classification after stage 1:

1Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors)

4:23:22

2Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe)

+04”

3Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin)

+06”

4Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale)

+09”

5Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)

+10”

6Christophe Laporte (Cofidis)

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7Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo)

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8Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb)

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9John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo)

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10Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)

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11Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe)

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12Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)

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13Timothy Dupont (Wanty – Groupe Gobert)

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14Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie)

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15Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)

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16Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors)

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17Michael Valgren (Astana)

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18Maximiliano Richeze (Quick-Step Floors)

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19Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors)

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20Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)

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