Mayhem on Corsica

Crashes to the days favorites and a bus wedged under the finishing banner with a charging peloton just five kilometres out that resulted in a roaming finishing line ensured the Tour got off to the kind of dramatic start we all expected when they announced the opening stage in Corsica would be a flat one with the Yellow jersey up for grabs.

So chapeau to Marcel Kittel who avoided all the chaos to take the win and the first Yellow of the tour, but baring a clean day in which someone like Mark Cavendish delivered the win everyone expected of him, the days winner was always going to be overshadowed by the goings on further down the road. In fairness nobody could have foreseen the whole bus saga that almost resulted in the race being won and lost three kilometres further out that expected.

The Orica Green Edge bus got jammed under the finishing banner late in the stage and when it became apparent that they might not be able to move it and that the leadout trains of Cavendish and Andre Griepel were with in five or six kilometres, the decision was made to move the finish line. How exactly that would have worked would have been fascinating to see, from the riders themselves trying to judge the sprint to what surely would have amounted to a line of chalk in the road, to the fans beyond that point who had waited on the races arrival all day.

Eventually someone came up with the wise decision to reverse the bus back up and off the road in time for the races arrival which resulted in the finishing line moving back to it's original location.

The off shoot of this unthinkable drama was a confused peloton which meant things were never going to end well given the stage we'd been given.



You see the convenient thing about a prologue to open a Tour isn't just the fact that it gives all the fans a chance to see all the riders in what amounts to a glorified opening ceremony, but it also allows a general classification to be set without much risk to the health of those involved. When you make the opening day one for the sprinters you can be sure of a fast day, with 198 men vying to be within the top 25 places going into the final 15 kilometres. Big favorites want to be near the front to stay out of trouble and others need to form a leadout train for their sprinters. Mix that with the fact that the Yellow jersey is up for grabs for whoever finishes first and throw in the knowledge that the opening stages are always a nervy affair and you've got a fine recipe for disaster.

And so it was within five clicks of the line that disaster stuck. You have to imagine the riders had just been told the sprint finish had been moved a few kilometres closer to them, thanks to the bus issue, and it cause a bit of panic. Wheels were touched and down they came. Cavendish and Sagan. Dreams of Yellow it tatters. Months of anticipation of Cavendish pulling on the Yellow jersey -- one of the reasons they started with this kind of stage, to allow the finest sprinter the race has ever seen to wear Yellow -- gone in the blink of an eye.

That's bike racing though. You can plan and prepare for months only for it all to come crashing down in ... well, a crash. Just ask Tony Martin, the favorite for the time-trial to Mont-Saint-Michel next week who has potentially seen all his preparation go out the window with a crash that leaves us unsure if he'll take to the start tomorrow.

What was left of the peloton charged on up the road to an uncertain finish line and it looked as though Griepel had been gifted the dream of Yellow. Yet the next shot on our screens was that of the Gorilla, standing at the side of the road with his bike. A mechanical issue -- a lost opportunity.

Kittel avoided it all and burst from a shrunken pack to blast over the line that had been covered by the Green Edge bus just moments before. To highlight the removal of sprint talent from the sprint they all wanted to win was David Millar coming in forth. But let's not take anything away from Kittel. He was still a top five favorite for the stage and everyone knew the risks attributed to such an opening day. He rode his luck best and got to where you need to be for a shot at victory. Always expect the unexpected, even a bus stuck on the finishing line.

Tomorrow it gets a little hillier and that might take a bit of the pressure off the bunch allowing everyone the chance to really get a feel for this race. You can bet all bus drivers will be getting a memo tonight, but if today is a lesson for what's to come in this Tour, then get ready for anything. Prepare for mayhem; expect drama.