Here we are again, has it really been a year already? We enter the tour with many questions, is it the most open in recent memory? Can Thomas step up again? And how the heck is Valverde still going?

Anyway, stage 1, lets see what’s in store.

A bunch gallop is highly expected at the end of a 2-km long and slightly uphill straight line on the Park Royal Avenue near the castle of the king of Belgium in the north of Brussels. But there will be another race inside the race! The first polka dot jersey of the 2019 Tour de France will be awarded after 43.5km of racing atop the “muur” of Geraardsbergen. It’s a cat. 3 climb, followed by the cat. 4 Bosberg, so whoever will come first at the “muur” will lead the KOM classification. Many riders who don’t have to look after a sprinter will fight for the breakaway from the gun with that first target in mind, after which the teams of the fast men will do their best to bring the peloton back together.

And the course?

Is that a kick in the last KM?

Lovely, so a text book day 1 sprint day then? Who’s in the mix? Of to the ever wonderful INRNG.com we go/.

The Contenders: a difficult three way pick among the sprinters. The uphill sections in the finish tilt it to Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) but his lead out train looks weak compared to those enjoyed by Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quickstep) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma). Viviani gets his preferred train and is out to make amends after a flop in the Giro, remember he’s back in his blue overalls now. Groenewegen is strong in these uphill finishes too and of the trio probably offers the most certainty but as mentioned before he was stretching his back a lot after the ZLM Tour, as if something wasn’t right and it’ll be interesting to see what Wout van Aert does, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t and is being saved for tomorrow’s team time trial. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) should be close too, a sprint chaperone. For Ewan it’s now or never, he could make his Tour debut – he was flicked by Mitchelton this time last year – with a stage win and the yellow jersey while both Viviani and Groenewegen could lose today but still, just, hope for the maillot jaune if they manage a great team time trial tomorrow.

Among the others Alexander Kristoff (UAE Emirates) is a powerful rider with the pedigree but not a frequent pick these days and if he wins a stage this Tour it might be later in the race. Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) likes harder finishes than this, his time could come later. Cees Bol (Team Sunweb) is a neo-pro but starts precisely because he’s popped up to win already this year. Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) sprints but is more of a complete rider. Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) could be in the mix but normally don’t have the pure speed to beat the top trio, they’re suited to later stages but could pounce if there’s an opportunity. Kitten rustler Niccolò Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Dimension Data) will sprint but how to win? André Greipel used to love finishes like this but is near invisible since moving to Arkéa-Samsic but it’s job done as he has helped to secure the team a wildcard invitation.

Finally all this is predicated on a sprint finish and it’s the most likely scenario but just how hard with Deceuninck-Quickstep and Jumbo-Visma work today knowing they have eyes on winning tomorrow’s stage as well?

And as it’s stage 1 and I haven’t got pics from a stage yesterday, lets go back a year and remind ourselves what happened.

😃😃😃😃😎😃😃

Viviani looked shot at the giro.

First GC contender to crash and loose time? Odds on favourite is Porte!!

I have a suspicion that Nibali is lying to us about stages only.

Dylan G to win today, I reckon.

Alaphilippe..

Aaaaaah, summer at last !!

My money’s on Ewan

(… to go too early)

Might still win it if he can get a decent gap, though

Love to see Greipel win it,I doubt he’ll be saving himself for the Team time trial tomorrow.

Kitten rustler Niccolò Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie)

Say what?

Say what?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxzWcH2I1rG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I reckon Ewan today, he will be super motivated after not going last year (despite being told he wuld), changing team etc. plus he is a small (light) sprinter so the uphill finished seem to suit him.

Thank you for your efforts with the posts lunge – always appreciated.

👍

Loving Wiggins’ motorbike pillion action reportage on Eurosport!

Dimension Data DS picked Cav and the owner said No!

Fuglsgang first GC contender to crash, not sure he’ll loose time today though

Odd to see Astana send four riders back for fuglsang and three of them sit on his wheel as they head back through the cars

Is there nothing Sagan Can’t do !!! 😀 yeah perhaps try not calling it too early

Nice result that!
Lots of argy bargy in run in.

Enjoyed that, nice to see a (relative) unknown win!

Who won?!
FFS, I’m relying on this feed for running commentary and a result!

Honestly, can’t get the forumites these days…

1 TEUNISSEN, Mike (TJV) 4:22:47
2 SAGAN, Peter (BOH)
3 EWAN, Caleb (LTS)
4 NIZZOLO, Giacomo (TDD)
5 COLBRELLI, Sonny (TBM)
6 MATTHEWS, Michael (SUN)
7 TRENTIN, Matteo (MTS)
8 NAESEN, Oliver (ALM)
9 VIVIANI, Elia (DQT)
10 STUYVEN, Jasper (TFS)
11 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (CPT)
12 BETTIOL, Alberto (EF1)
13 PASQUALON, Andrea (WGG)
14 KRISTOFF, Alexander (UAD)
15 JANSEN, Amund Grøndahl (TJV)

looked like G went down quite heavily in the run in but the team say he’s ok. Chaos leadouts sprinters trying from so far out!

won by a textbook lunge!

Was Wiggins pillion stuff any good? I switched over to ITV – that childish animated cr@p was driving me spare!

Surprisingly listenable. Lots of “natural break” action and turmoil behind the cars. Bit of a nervous start and I hope Fuglsang is OK. You can’t win the tour in the first week, but you can definitely lose it on the first day.

TTT tomorrow. 47 seconds. That’s what Bardet is going to lose tomorrow. And this is his tour.

Has a great day watching the tour run along our local roads today.  Fun seeing your standard climbs getting destroyed

Watching on the big screen while waiting for the tour caravan to arrive:

Rosetto flying up through Overijse a little bit before they started to wind him in

Massive crowd and there was a big screen just around the next corner.  So with only 25k to go we could just run up and watch the final action play out.  Great way to spend a day and tomorrow should be even better

Got far too excited thinking it was Wout van Aert taking the sprint!

Anyone care to comment on whether they think races are getting crashier over the last few years? Or are they just showing more crashes in the highlights?

I don’t think they’re “crashier”; the 1st week is always crashy because everyone is slightly nervous, everyone has got good legs/form, and nobody wants to lose time this early. This means that physical exhaustion hasn’t yet thinned the field towards the pointy end so the road is naturally more crowded, speeds are high and everyone wants themselves or their leader to get across the line 1st because it’s a guaranteed yellow jersey.