07/05/25 10:59:00
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07/05 10:57 CDT Tour de France: Philipsen wins first stage, Pogacar finishes
safely
Tour de France: Philipsen wins first stage, Pogacar finishes safely
LILLE, France (AP) --- Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage of the Tour de
France in a sprint to the line while 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 a 185-kilometer (115-mile) route starting and ending in
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.
Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay was second and Norwegian Soren Wrenskjold 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 3 hours, 53 minutes.
Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel narrowly avoided after about 50
kilometers a crash 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 later when Frenchmen Benjamin Thomas and Matto 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.
Sunday's second stage is a slightly hilly 209-kilometer trek from
Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France and should again favor
sprinters.
This month's race stays in France for the duration, with no stages abroad as in
previous years. It ends on July 27 in Paris.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports
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