Philipsen wins first stage of Tour de France, Pogacar finishes safely

Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage of the Tour de France in a sprint to the line and defending champion Tadej Pogacar finished safely on Saturday.

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

Stage 1 took riders on 185 kilometers in and around 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.

Philipsen gets to wear the cherished yellow jersey for the first time, for one day at least.

"I have dreamed of wearing the yellow jersey. I wore the green jersey (for best sprinter) two years ago and the yellow will feel incredible," he said, praising the fans who came over from nearby Belgium. "In the last two kilometers there were a lot of spectators and that gave me goosebumps."

Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay was second and Norwegian Soren Waerenskjold third.

Pogacar 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 three hours and 53 minutes.

Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who was third overall last year, narrowly avoided a crash after about 50 kilometers 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 when Frenchmen Benjamin Thomas and Matteo 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.