Although the profile suggested a bunch sprint finish, Saturday’s first stage of the 112th Tour de France in Lille played out with a 40-strong colony of the peloton, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard included, fighting it out for the right to pull on the first yellow jersey. Jasper Philipsen bagged his 10th Tour stage victory and the maillot jaune. Guillaume Boivin was the top Canadian in 57th.
The Course
The opening stage contained three Cat. 4 ascents spaced out along the 184.9 km circuit starting and ending in Lille. Although a small breakaway would give it the ol’ college try, this would be a mêlée between Biniam Girmay, Philipsen, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Tim Merlier and Jonathan Milan.
Who would have the honour of getting in the 112th edition’s first breakaway and perhaps pulling on the first polka dot jersey–in its Golden Jubilee year–at the end of the day? A quintet with four Frenchmen in it volunteered. Bruno Armirail, mountains classification winner of the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, was in the mix. The first categorized climb of the 2025 Tour was Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, its surprisingly-steep grades lined with fans shouting on the fugitives. Benjamin Thomas was first over the top.
After a great battle, Benjamin Thomas takes the lead on the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, claiming the first KOM point of this #TDF2025 🔴⚪️#TDFLive
— Tour de France (@letourfr.bsky.social) 2025-07-05T12:46:33.111Z
Two-time world time trial champion Filippo Ganna was a victim of the first crash of the 112th edition. He took a long time to get underway again and required a shoe change. The Italian would climb off the bike 60 km later.
The peloton was worried about crosswinds, so it raced with intent, drawing the escapees close before the second categorized climb. Lenny Martinez and Julian Alaphilippe were among the riders dumped by the speed. The breakaway was swallowed up with 105 km to go. Now what?
First there was the day’s intermediate sprint where Milan scored the maximum points.
Thomas wasn’t finished for the day. He went on the attack again with another Frenchman who had been in the original breakaway, Mattéo Vercher. Thomas vs Vercher on the cobbled Mont Cassel was bizarre. They duked it out for the KOM point, but in nicking it Thomas threw his bike and caused a crash at the…
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