Tour de France Opening Action

Tour de France Opening Action

Tour de France Opening Action

📅08 July 2014, 11:00

Over the weekend the 2014 Tour de France kicked off in Yorkshire. It will continue until the 21st stage is completed in Paris on 27th July.

The 118 mile first stage was started by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry from Leeds Town Hall at midday on Saturday. A total of 198 riders from 22 teams took part in the first stage which was won by Marcel Kittel. However, the race ended in tragedy for Briton’s Mark Cavendish who was one of the favourites to win. He dislocated his right shoulder and suffered ligament damage during a crash near the end of the race and has had to pull out of the contest.

Stage 2 was a 125 mile race from York to Sheffield and featured around 3,000 metres of climbing spread across nine categorised ascents. The Italian champion rider Vincenzo Nibali attacked late to win the stage breaking clear of a group which included the double winner Alberto Contador who finished two seconds later.

Stage 3, the final stage to take place in Briton before the group goes to France, saw riders race from Cambridge to London. Once again Marcel Kittel emerged victorious before thousands of fans lining the route through central London. Slovakia’s Peter Sagan finished second while Australia’s Mark Renshaw finished third.

While it is still very early days, the results of the first three days mean that overall Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali retains the lead in the race on 13hrs 31mins and 13secs. Just two seconds behind are Peter Sagan and Michael Albasini, while Greg Van Avermaet and Chris Froome hold fourth and fifth place.