There were mixed fortunes for the thousands of Belgian fans who poured over the border for the opening stage of the Tour de France as Jasper Philipsen won, but star rider Remco Evenepoel faltered in his long-range bid for the title itself.
Philipsen took the yellow jersey in a frantic sprint finish at the northern city of Lille, his tenth Tour de France win crowned with a rare race lead for a rider usually chasing sprint points.
Philipsen outsprinted Eritrean Biniam Girmay and Norway's Soren Waerenskjold while Dane Vingegaard and defending champion Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia crossed the line in the leading group.
Australia's Kaden Groves was delighted to play his part in helping his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Philipsen grab his third win of the season.
"There were echelons and the race split with about 25km to go," Groves said.
"That's what we expected actually, and we had numbers in the front [group] who could dictate the race."
And Philipsen added: "It's really amazing. My 10th victory is something I will never forget.
"The team performance was incredible. I think we were there all day. It was very nervous but we knew today could be our day and we have to be in the front and we were there in the split.
"The team did amazing and in the end we could just use our strength and finish it off."
How the Stage 1 race unfolded
Vingegaard was on red alert as the split started and his explosive acceleration helped stun the peloton and leave his Visma team delighted with the damage done by the day's work with a 40sec advantage over several important rivals.
"It was our plan to use the wind at 20km and it worked," said Vingegaard.
Known for his pounces in the mountains, Vingegaard has won the Tour in 2022 and 2023.
The 28-year-old grew up in a remote fishing community, racing into strong winds on the coastal roads in Denmark.
Defending champion Pogacar appeared flustered at the finish line.
"It was as frantic as we had expected, but when the split came fortunately I was near the front," said the 26-year-old Slovenian.
"I'm just happy day one is done. Nine days to go before the first rest day."
Billed as the third man here after finishing behind Pogacar and Vingegaard on his debut Tour in 2024, star rider Remco Evenepoel was in sombre mood at his team bus.
"We were asleep, we thought any danger was over," Evenepoel said of the split where both he and his team's sprinter Tim Merlier found themselves trapped just 20km from the finish.
Belgian Remco Evenepoel of Soudal Quick-Step pictured at the start of the first stage. Source: AFP / Jasper Jacobs
Primoz Roglic and Florian Lipowitz of Red Bull, and Team UAE's Joao Almeida were also caught out in the blustery winds.
Another UAE man, Adam Yates, lost minutes, meaning Pogacar's two deputies are off the pace if something happens to the UAE star man.
Africa's sole rider Biniam Girmay, winner of three stages in 2024, was second on the day as Philipsen got ahead of him with 100m to go.
Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay celebrates on the podium with the best young rider's white jersey after the 1st stage. Source: AFP / Loic Venance
Fans packed the route in one of France's more modest regions passing First World War memorials, red-brick houses and slagheaps from long-closed coal mines along the Belgian border.
Under overcast skies with the temperature a manageable 22C, the peloton cut a fast pace despite the windy conditions.
Racing towards an intermediate sprint over cobbles, escapee Benjamin Thomas slid sideways and took out his sole rival Matteo Vercher in one spectacular fall and the pair were still bickering when the peloton shot past them.
Former time-trial world champion Filippo Ganna was one rider who will take no further part after a clumsy fall on a corner.
The Italian would have been a contender on the lengthy stage five individual time-trial, as well as key in the Ineos team's campaign to get veteran Geraint Thomas into the top 10 on his 14th and final Tour de France.
Philipsen, in yellow, will lead the peloton out for Sunday's second stage, a hilly 209km route to the beaches of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
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