A total of 198 cyclists, led by the yellow jersey wearer, Chris Froome, victor of the last Tour de France, started towards their first destination, Utah beach, one of the four Allied beachheads during the Normandy landings of the Second World War.
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Britain’s Mark Cavendish closed in on the all-time record by winning the opening 188km stage at Utah Beach.
Cavendish, now riding for Team Dimension Data, finished ahead of Marcel Kittel and last year’s green jersey victor Peter Sagan.
Two-time Tour victor Alberto Contador started in the worst possible way as the Spaniard crashed during the opening stage of the three-week race on Saturday.
The Dimension Data rider outsprinted German Marcel Kittel and world champion Peter Sagan of Slovakia at the end of a 188-kilometre ride from Mont St Michel to near one of the D-Day beaches.
“There is no bigger icon in cycling than the yellow jersey – I’m quite emotional”.
An already sparkling career has another moment to savour for Cav, who will be the proud owner of the maillot jaune going into tomorrow’s stage, for the first time in his career.
“When you crash, you get back on the bike and don’t feel pain, but then after the stage you might be in trouble”, had said Steven de Jongh, Tinkoff’s sports director.
He was quickly back on his feet and riding Croatian team-mate Robert Kiserlovski’s bike, but his jersey was shredded around his right shoulder.
“To pull on the yellow jersey is an honour”, Cavendish told ITV4.
Contador, who has not won the Tour since 2009 but has had a strong build-up to the event as he looks to beat pre-race favourites Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana, has crashed several times on the Tour in recent years.
“It’s not the best way to start”, Contador said.
“I really don’t know how it will be”, said Cavendish.
German Paul Voss struck out on his own ahead of the day’s two categorised climbs, cresting the summit of both alone to ensure he would finish the day wearing the polkadot king of the mountains jersey.
The sight immediately raised fears of how badly the Spaniard had hurt his right shoulder because he fell on that side, dislocating his shoulder, during last year’s Giro d’Italia.
After the riders went under the Flame Rouge (1km to go), a disastrous crash occurred just behind the front of the race which splintered the peloton, and created a group of around 20 riders out in front.
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Leicester’s Dan McLay (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), a former British junior champion and a beneficiary of the Dave Rayner Fund, scored a top 10 finish in his first Tour stage, another encouraging performance after his victory earlier in this season at the GP Denain.
