We’re in Bruxelles for the opening stage of the Tour de France. It’s a relatively straightforward flat stage, not too long and not too short at 190 kilometers that take the riders on a circular course back to the city. Two mountain sprints in the first third should provide motivation for many escapees to try and be a part of the break of the day.
Looking at the finish and its runup, there’s a 4% “ramp” 10 kilometers from the line and after a bit of very slight downhill road, the home stretch rises at up to 2,3% in the final kilometer. Nothing major, but a bit of an additional challenge for the sprinters.
Here it goes: On a modest street in the Belgian capital, the 2019 Tour de France is about to begin. Who’s going to be the first attacker aiming to secure the polkadots for tomorrow? And then, of course, who will take the stage win and the yellow jersey? The stage is set!
The answer to the first question: Marildo Yzeiraj! The Aker Mot rider, one of the biggest fighters in the peloton, is immediately followed by Sanogo.
For a while, that was it. The duo already has a gap of two minutes when Stimulak goes after them. Kulimbetov wants in on the move.
A few kilometers later, Katrasnik initiates another attack alongside Arifin and Gogl.
But seven riders up front seems to be more than the peloton wants to allow. Jungels, Mager and finally Paillot work to bring the latter five back.
And so we will spend the rest of the day with just two escapees. Yzeiraj and Sanogo, presenting his Côte d’Ivoire championship jersey, have four and a half minutes on the peloton as they approach the two mountain sprints. It’s going to be a duel for the pokadots!
Sanogo is the better puncheur, but he has trouble with a fence on the side of the road and Yzeiraj manages to be first over the line!
He’s also the first to accelerate towards the second KoM sprint, with a much cleaner road towards it. Can the T-Mobile rider counter this time?
He can! The two are now tied at 8 points each. But we have a deciding intermediate sprint coming up …
No one in the peloton cares about the final point at either of the mountain sprints so they go to the domestiques who happen to be at the front as they cross it: Smit at the first, Mager at the second. The gap to the escapees is at six minutes and a half now.
The intermediate sprints offer six, four and two sprint points and bonus seconds here and the latter give this one additional significance for the leaders, since they will determine the GC rank at the end of the stage and hence who gets to wear the mountain jersey. Yzeiraj accelerates first, but Sanogo is the better sprinter on paper.
And he proves it! He’ll change one special jersey for another tomorrow!
The sprinters prepare to fight for the two remaining points and in doing so they get a gap to the rest of the peloton. 22 riders are off the front including all of the fastest guys.
Nelson leads Soupe and Bouhanni, Demare tries to catch up but he’s got the outside lane through the final corner.
Nelson has the legs to sustain the acceleration over the line. Two points for him! The peloton would come together again soon afterwards, a bit more than three minutes behind the leaders by now.
Puma for Demare, Aegon for Groenewegen and EA Vesuvio for Van der Lijke have been doing the work all day long and have now brought the advance down to under a minute.
In response, Yzeiraj accelerates, trying to prolong his time in the spotlight a little. Sanogo does not seem to have an answer.
Indeed, the Ivorian is caught with just under 20 kilometers to go. The pack is stretched under the high pace of the sprinter teams, riders need to pay attention now already to be in position.
The peloton is about to hit that small uphill incline 10 kilometers from the finish line when Yzeiraj is caught. A strong effort from him, and although he misses out on the polkadots, he could still get a reward: Unless a U25 rider gets bonus seconds from the final sprint, which seems highly unlikely, he'll wear white in Sanogo's stead tomorrow.
We’re coming closer to the sprint and the preparations are in full swing. Groenewegen is already very close to the front on the left side behind Boom. Samolenkov tries to grab his wheel.
Behind him, Puma sets a train for Demare with Arndt and Felline. Van der Lijke and his teammates are next to them.
Bouhanni, Van Poppel, Stauff, Liepins and Van der Sanden follow one behind the other, Soupe just behind. Nelson has Quaade on the right side.
Through a combination of corners, Puma have made their way to the front. Felline accelerates past Arndt, Demare directly behind him.
Reimer is doing a great job for Van der Lijke on the right, Groenewegen follows with Bouhanni besides him, then Van Poppel, Samolenkov and Stauff.
Nelson has been blocked and is out of it, Liepins and Van der Sanden are close and try to hang on.
Under the flamme rouge, Demare and Van der Lijke leave their teammates’ slipstream. But Felline slowed down a lot just before, so Demare has a pretty big speed deficit.
Groenewegen, Samolenkov and Van Poppel look well as the first chasers on the right while Bouhanni follows his compatriot alone on the left.
Van der Lijke slightly in the lead as we come closer to the line, but Groenewegen and Samolenkov are both faster! Demare is suffering, he has not found his gear yet.
Van der Lijke and Demare fade drastically. Groenewegen still in the lead but Stauff is very quick now, as are Liepins and Van der Sanden!
Stauff takes the lead, Liepins tries to get around him on his left! Can Groenewegen strike back?
No! Andreas Stauff wins the stage and is the first man to wear the yellow jersey tomorrow! What a performance in absence of Coquard! Liepins and Groenewegen complete the podium.
Van der Sanden, Van Poppel and Samolenkov come in next. Especially Isostar will be very happy with this result, I think.
After all their work, EA Vesuvio and Puma have to be disappointed with a seventh place for Van der Lijke and eigth for Demare. With a slight headwind and that small gradient on the home stretch, they just mismanaged their sprint trains and went too early. Hopefully, that’s not going to be a recurring sight for them.
Nelson got completely lost in the final two kilometers and finishes outside the Top 10. But what’s even more important: Extraordinarily, the race organizers give a time gap of 39 seconds ahead of the group pictured. No GC rider benefitted in any way, but it gives the likes of Demare, Felline or Van der Lijke a much better chance of getting the yellow jersey on tomorrow’s hilly stage.
But for now, that jersey rests on Stauff's shoulder. Liepins will wear green in his stead, Sanogo leads both the KoM and the young riders classification, although Yzeiraj will be in white tomorrow, as I mentioned earlier. Kanepejs has the questionable honor of being the first lanterne rouge of the race.
I checked the replay because I initially missed what happened to Nelson, thinking I would see the podiums afterwards, but I was wrong. Would have liked to give you the pictures of the guys up there, sorry about that!
Tour de France 
