Stage 1 -- Tour de France 2020

I got up at 4:45 am to watch the opening ride behind the pace car and see who was actually riding in the Tour this year.  Several of the best known riders are not there this year.  Chris Froome is still recovering from his injuries from over a year ago but is planning on being in great form for the Vuelta de Espana in September.  Several well known cyclists such as Geraint Thomas and Mark Cavandish were not selected by their respective teams based on their earlier performances in tours over the past several months.  Several cyclists were injured in the 2020 Critérium du Dauphiné in midi-August and had not recovered enough from their injuries.  

An unexpected rainstorm hit the City of Nice shortly after the start of Stage 1 this morning and played havoc with the narrow, windy roads.  Crashes happened throughout the race and I'm sure the team doctors and local hospitals will be looking over a large number of the cyclists this evening.  I have not heard if all the cyclists finished within the time limit because of the first crashes and having to ride the entire way without any other cyclists to pull them along.  

As could have been anticipated,  three riders created a breakaway right out of the start and stayed away until 58K to the finish line.  One of them qualified for the King of the Mountains, Polka Dot Jersey to wear tomorrow and the other who crashed right at the 3M line gets to wear the "red" number tomorrow at the most combative rider.  

I thought you would find it important that all the fans by the roadside and people involved in the ceremony were wearing masks, including the winners on the stage. No kisses this year. They have gone to every length to keep everyone in the Tour safe.  George Bennett called for the peloton to stage a "truce" on the final descent because the roads were so slick. They didn't want any more injuries and to give the cyclists who had crashed a chance to catch up at the rear of the peloton. George crashed again at the end but finished within the time limit.  Astana broke the "truce" at one point and almost immediately on a corner,  their leader, Lopez's,  bike lost control and he crashed into a sign.  He got back up and hopefully is okay.

Race Results:  It was a sprint finish and Alexander Kristoff of UAE pulled off a very strategic finish going around Peter Sagan at just the right moment to win Stage 1 and the Yellow Jersey and the Green Jersey.  He was very happy to finally win a stage but most importantly get to wear the Yellow Jersey tomorrow.  M. Pederson will be wearing the white jersey as Best Young Rider and he finished 2nd. I think Peter Sagan will wear the Green Jersey tomorrow.

Hope tomorrow's weather because it will be a tough day of climbing.