Tour de France: Philipsen wins first stage, Pogačar finishes safely

LILLE, France (AP) – Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage of the Tour de France in a sprint to the line while defending champion Tadej Pogačar finished safely on Saturday.

Pogačar is looking to win the showcase race for a fourth time on the back of great form this season.

Stage 1 took riders on a 185-kilometer (115-mile) route starting and ending in the northern city of Lille.

Philipsen’s Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel put him in a great position to pull clear in the last 100 meters and win by a clear margin for his 10th Tour stage win.

Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay was second and Norwegian Søren Wærenskjold third.

Pogačar and two-time Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark were in the front group – finishing 18th and 20th, respectively – but did not contest the sprint. All finished in 3 hours, 53 minutes.

Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel narrowly avoided after about 50 kilometers a crash which unseated Italian rider Filippo Ganna. He continued but later abandoned, as did Swiss rider Stefan Bissegger, caught in a separate crash.

There was another crash later when Frenchmen Benjamin Thomas and Mattéo Vercher contested bonus points for the best climber’s jersey. Thomas overtook Vercher at the line on the short cobblestoned ascent but lost control of his front wheel and swerved into him. They both fell but got up and continued.

Sunday’s second stage is a slightly hilly 209-kilometer trek from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France and should again favor sprinters.

This month’s race stays in France for the duration, with no stages abroad as in previous years. It ends on July 27 in Paris.