Germany's Marcel Kittel took advantage of an odd day in the opening stage of the 1100th edition of the Tour de France earning the yellow jersey after a crash that wiped out 25 riders.
"I'm speechless, so, so happy. This is by far the greatest day in my whole life," said Kittel. "It's by far (my) biggest victory. I hope I can sleep, I'm going to be pretty excited about tomorrow.
Kittel managed to sprint past Russia's Alexander Kristoff and the Netherlands' Danny van Poppel, after taking advantage of a 25-rider crash, near the end of the 132-mile stage, that wiped out former champion Alberto Contado, who suffered cuts and bruises on his shoulder, as well as heavy favorite, Peter Sagan - who won the green jersey for the points classification last year.
"He is all right but it is after the night that we will see how he has recuperated from the crash. There is no fracture," said Philippe Mauduit, Contador's sports director at Team Saxo-Tinkoff,.
Sagan's main rival, Mark Cavendish, who was seeking his 24th stage win and his first career yellow jersey, managed to avoid the wreckage but was stuck behind those that had crashed. Andre Greipel, another favorite to win the event, was left by the side of the road because of a technical problem with his bike.
"I saw the crash happen to my right," said Kittel. "I knew it was serious. I knew that Mark [Cavendish] and Andre [Greipel] were no longer in contention and it was a good chance for us."
To add to the crazy day, organizers scrambled to shorten the course of the first stage, by two miles, after a bus from the Orica Greenedge team was stuck under the overhead banner on the finish line. Organizers managed to the finish line but reinstated it back its normal finishing after the bus moved.
Because of all the confusion caused by the moving of the finish line, the race organizers will award the whole peloton the same time at the finish.
Stage 1 marked the first time in the Tour De France's century-old history that the race visited the island of Corsica, with the starting beginning at the harbor town of Porto Vecchio and snaking along the coast to finish in Bastia. The race heads to Stage 2 with the finishing line located at the town of Ajaccio.
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