An early attack sees an immediate breakaway form and they quickly build up a lead over the peloton. (4:31). The group contains Good of Belkin and Bazayev of Astana as well as two of our own in Pauwels & Pineau.



81km in and now the real test begins as the breakaway make there start on Côte de la Roche-en-Ardenne before reaching the short sharp 12% climb that is Côte de Saint-Roch. Their lead now at 7min 12.



We decided to wait and see if anyone took up the chase, here SKY and Garmin take turns on the front though there is no intent in the peloton just yet…may have to once again be us who chase it down.



The peloton finally pick up the pace, with Movistar happy to play the role of breakaway chasers. With 98km to go the lead is down to 4min 29.



Here we go! The climbing begins…the hills coming thick and fast as we enter the final 75 kms..here the breakaway, still the original 7 from this morning, can be seen just up the road from the chasing pack.



And it’s an attack from Valverde, seen late, Martin, Michal, Brambilla and De Veert are sent after him and the attack is shut down. Moments later the breakaway is caught….35 kms left!



12 kms to go Valverde goes again this time with Rodriguez…Michal tries to go but doesn’t have the energy and fails to stay on their wheel’s…



with 2km left it’s a 7 man race for the line…Gilbert leads with Valverde, Betancur, Nibali, Gerrans, Hesjedal and Rodriguez who has lost momentum on the corner….



It’s Betancur who takes it..jumping out of Valverde’s wheel early and holding him off for the win! Stunning victory for the Columbian!

Relatively flat route to kick start the Tour. The sprinters will be expecting to contest the finish on this one.



Here’s the man…Kwiatkowski lines up to begin the 100th Edition of the Tour De France.



After numerous breakaway attempts at the start a group of 4 finally get away from the main pack, they contest the first KOTM point…Nuyens of Garmin takes it. The lead over the peloton stands at 1min 58.



The day is very easy going and it’s Argos-Shimano and Cannondale setting the pace at the front, they don’t seem to concerned as the gap to the breakaway approaches 7 minutes.

With 40km’s until the first points are contested it’s clear the breakaway will take the first 4 positions, but there will be plenty of points still on offer for the main contenders for the Green Jersey.



Is there a better sight in cycling….as we approach the intermediate sprint point the fastest men on two wheels have their trains arranged: Greipel, Kittel & Cavendish all sit almost in sync on the wheels of their lead out men.

It ends up being a bit of a non-event as Cavendish puts in a little effort which is enough to take the maximum available after the breakaway, Kittel is next, then Greipel.

With just 6kms left the breakaway is finally caught in large thanks to OMPQ’s Tony Martin who put in a huge shift. The trains are formed and the excitement builds for the sprint finish. All of the big boys are there!!!



WOW! Stunning victory for Cavendish, whose unexpected early sprint left everyone else in his tracks. The Omega lead out were fantastic, taking the left hand side going into the last corner, leaving both Lotto & Argos Shimano with nowhere to go.

Yellow Jersey on the opening day…a feat Cav will be proud of.
Whilst I don’t want to be too complacent, Cavendish today took a huge stride towards winning the green jersey. Kittel, Greipel and Sagan all suffered badly in the bunch finish with only Kettel getting a sniff of the points. A huge lead over his 3 main rivals…we couldn’t have wished for a better start.

Rank	Name	Team	Time
1	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team	4h46'53
2	Matthew Goss	Orica - GreenEdge	s.t.
3	Arnaud Demare	FDJ.fr	s.t.
4	Manuel Belletti	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
5	Bryan Coquard	Team Europcar	s.t.

As for Michal…he safely finishes in the pack. It was a bit of a non-event day for the white jersey contenders, once the climbs begin we will see just who will be battling it out over the course of the 3 weeks.

The tour crossed the island to Ajaccio on the west coast, with four ranked climbs including the Category 2 Col de Vizzavona (1,163 m (3,816 ft)) after 95 km (59.0 mi) and a Category 3 climb 12 km (7.5 mi) before the finish.



A fairly short stage at just over 153km but the climbers will get there first chance to shine. With a short climb before the finish this could be a day for the breakaway to pick up a stage win, failing that look for Froome, Sagan, Voeckler, Henao to perhaps contest.



Cav in his Yellow Jersey…a moment he will treasure!

A quick pace in the peloton ensures there is no breakaway in the first 30kms…this means plenty of points available for the sprinters. Cav is being lead at the front by Steegmans & Trentin whilst Sagan is a few meters behind…Kittel & Greipel have some work to do only just in sight on the corner…3kms till the sprint.



Goss takes the intermediate sprint, with Kittel 2nd. Cav could only manage 5th after a poor leadout from Trentin.



Now it was time for the breakaway to get involved…Hansen (Lotto), Boom (Belkin) & Flecha (Vacansoleil) are the ones to attack and together quickly build a lead of 3min 36 on the peloton.

It would seem Hansen and Fletcha wish to contest the small KOTM points on offer over the 1st climb…



As they attack Boom decides to get involved…and why not, he is rewarded with the maximum 3 points on offer, Fletcha 2nd, Hansen 3rd….immediately Fletcha tries a solo break.



The first category 2 climb of the day sees maximum points once more for Boom, who is followed by Fletcha. Hansen is now beginning to lose ground to these two as the climbs get tougher.

Cavendish suffers a puncture with 62kms left, luckily the stage is not set up for a sprint finish today so we send back Trentin,Steegmans & Deevayns to help him to the finish.



Final climb and the breakaway lead by one minute…they will contest the final KOTM points on offer…and it’s Kangert (Astana) who takes the 2 points with Coppel (Cofidis) taking the solitary final point.

Michal looks in great shape with 12 kms to go and I decide to launch an attack out of the peloton. Henao (SKY) & Mollema (Belkin) follow…..



I attack again this time on the decline..and it works…I’ve pulled away. I am still 53 seconds off the lead with only 5kms left but I could get some valuable time on my rivals for the white jersey…



The stage will be contested by a 4 man breakaway who had joined and then pulled away from this mornings’ 3 man breakaway…Kangert (Astana), Nieve (Euskaltel), Coppel (Cofidis) & De Gendt (Vacansoleil) are those in the hunt…De Gendt has gone very early…still 1.8km left…can he hold on?



And he does it. De Gendt holds his speed right the way to the line to take the victory and Stage 2 of the Tour De France. Nieve takes 2nd with Coppel 3rd. A great day for the breakaway.

As for Michal…well he didn’t quite have the legs to hold off a rampaging breakaway but he does finish in the Top 10. Perhaps he should have gone a little sooner but he tested his rivals today and just riding away from them a little will give him great confidence.