Mont-Saint-Michel / Utah Beach Sainte-Marie-du-Mont

Stage 1 - Saturday, July 2nd - 188 km

Stage 2 >

The Stage

The Tour caravan has descended upon Normandy for the start of the 103rd Tour de France. 198 riders will start, how many will make it to Paris? Today's finish is at Utah Beach, making the whole Tour seem a little like an insignificant undertaking in comparison.

This year the Tour does not start with a prologue but with a 'regular' stage meaning this week we'll see a sprinter in the yellow jersey and not a time trialist. Today will very likely end with a mass sprint and the chances of a German winner are high; will it be Marcel Kittel or André Greipel? Will Mark Cavendish show some of his old form or will it be one of the lesser rated sprinters surprising everyone? What we do know, is that Nacer Bouhanni won't be winning today; he will not start due to a hand injury sustained in a fight last week...

Winner: Mark Cavendish

Tour Touristique

Mont Saint-Michel is one of the main tourist-attractions in Normandy. Annually about three million visitors go see the rock island just off the coast, crowned by an imposing Benedictine Abbey. About 1,300 years ago the Abbey was built on a cliff overlooking the sea, while the other side was covered in forests. But a tidal wave swept out trees and earth, and the rock island became accessible only at low tide.

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