Belgian Jasper Philipsen won the opening stage of the Tour de France, a 184.9km ride around Lille, to claim the first yellow jersey of this year's race.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider out-sprinted Eritrean Biniam Girmay and Norway's Soren Waerenskjold after crosswinds had caused chaos in the final 15 kilometres. Jonas Vingegaard and Visma Lease-a-Bike were right to the fore, forcing a split by pushing the pace, with fellow general classification contenders Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic on the wrong side and losing 39 seconds come the finish. Tadej Pogacar, however, remained right on his rival’s wheel.
