Marcel Kittel is in yellow, Mark Cavendish is gone to hospital for an x-ray on what looks like a broken collar bone and hun dreds of thousands of other people in Yorkshiure have had a far more pleasant day. Sean INgle and William Fotheringham will be reporting from Harrogate over the next couple of hours, so stay tuned for their updates and treat yourself to a copy of The Observer tomorrow, for a nice leisurely read over breakfast. Thanks for your company and have a great weekend.
Britain's Mark Cavendish crosses the line after crashing with Simon Gerrans. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images
Our resident expert is here with his first strident opinion of the summer. "Cavendish looks to have totally failed to handle the pressure and stress of home expectations," he says. "That looked to be some totally unacceptable butting and jostling with Gerrans. There is minor contact often in sprints, but it's generally frowned upon to lean into opponents with the shoulder or use the helmet. It wouldn't surprise me if the jury issue some sort of infraction for that stunt. Pretty poor show, really."
Having snipped the ceremonial ribbon earlier, the Duchess of Cambridge helps Marcel Kittel into his yellow jersey as Harry and William look on from the side. A few moments later, William helps him into the green jersey. Presumably Jens Voigt will be helped into the polka dot jersey by Prince Harry.
Giant-Shimano team rider Marcel Kittel of Germany celebrates winning the first stage of the 2014 Tour de France. Photograph: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters Photograph: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters
I've just seen the head-on of that crash and it certainly seemed that Cavendish got a little up close and personal with Gerrans, but he certainly didn't headbutt him. A push into Gerrans' shoulder with his head/helmet? Certainly. A headbutt? Emphatically not. Away from the crash, it briefly looked as if Fabian Cancellara might nick the stage, when he made his move with 1,200 metres to go, but in the end it was Kittel who prevailed by about a bike-length from Peter Sagan. Cancellara finished 12th in the end, while defending champion Chris Froome was sixth, no less.
The pair seemed to be having quite a frank exchange of views and shoulders as they jockeyed for position on the run-in. On Twitter, it's been suggested there may even have been a headbutt or two, but I'll need to see it again before giving a definitive verdict.
The Giant Shimano sprint specialist sprints his way into the yellow jersey ahead of Peter Sagan and Ramunas Navardaskaus. Having received medical attention, a rather distraught looking Mark Cavendish gets back on his bike and cycles slowly over the line holding his handlebars with his left hand, while holding his right arm in the manner of a man who might have done a mischief to his collar bone. He came down in a crash after a jostling match with Orica-Greenedge rider Simon Gerrans on the run-in. That was a nasty crash, with both men hitting the deck very, very hard.
The German sprinter wins the stage! Mark Cavendish was brought down in a pile-up on the run-in and is lying on the ground holding his shoulder. Hopefully he's OK.
On the earlier slopes of the climb to the finish, there's grimaces all round as the riders dig deep. Fabian Cancellara jumps off the front under the one kilometre to go banner and tries to nick the stage! Can he hold on?!?!?!
Omega Pharma-Quick Step continue to lead, with five riders ahead of Mark Cavendish in their train. Behind them, Peter Sagan is hoping to piggy-back their train, while Giant-Shimano are attempting to make up ground.
Andre Greipel's Lotto Belisol team continue to make the pace on one side of the road, with Katusha on the other. OMega Pharma-Quick Step take advantage of the gap and zoom through to fill it and take up the lead.
Andre Greipel, one of the favourites for today's stage, appears at the front of the bunch. Omega Pharma-Quick Step's riders are bunched together in behind the peloton leaders.
The riders pass under the 10 kilometres to go banner. Andre Greipel's Lotto Belisol team, Mark Cavendish's Omega Pharma-Quick Step team and Marcel Kittel's Giant-Shimano team are first and foremost in the bunch, with various members of Peter Sagan's Cannondale team also prominent.
No really, that's what he said. He goes on to add that "When you have so many riders together and so many teams, there's only so much room so hopefully they'll all get through." Marcel Kittel's Giant-Shimano team are visibly getting their ducks in a row, but are they setting up their train for Kittel or or John Degenkolb?
A couple of riders take a bad line and ride into a crash barrier in a village near - I think - Ripon. It's nothing serious, but they hold up some of the peloton behind them and towards the front, the speed picks up and various teams start jockeying for position. Belkin rider Lars Boom was one of the rideers to crash and he drops back to the medical car to get treatment for a graze and, more importantly, a tow back to the bunch.
As you were. The peloton rolls over a giant "SLOW" painted on the road in white paint. They don't seem to realise it's for the attention of motorists and isn't supposed to apply to them. An attempted breakaway might liven things up here.
The peloton continues to roll along at half-gas, with Lotto Belisol and Saxo Tinkoff controlling the pace. In a few kilometres time, the teams of the assorted sprinters will begin the process of getting their lead-out trains. The ridersw will have to negotiate two roundabouts about five kilometres from home, then a third about two kilometres out. The profile of the route through Harrogate to the finish line is up-and-down, with a serious of dips and ramps that could make life difficult for sprinters who prefer their finishes to be pancake flat.
The camera cuts to the finish line in Harrogate, where his boss David Cameron is seated at the finish of today's stage. The prime minister's advisors have told their man to go with the "Casual Dave" look today and has removed his tie.
Race leaders Jens Voigt, Benoit Jarrier and Nicolas Edet cycle through Ilkley earlier this afternoon. Photograph: Simon Wilkinson/REX Photograph: Simon Wilkinson/REX
The peloton is cruising along at a reasonably leisurely 40 kilometres per hour, which means they'll be hitting Harrogate within ... minute-by-minute reporter counts on fingers ... the hour. Most of the stragglers who got dropped on Buttertubs have rejoined the peloton, but a few including Alessandro Petacchi (OPQS) and Sacha Modolo (Lampre) are still struggling to catch up.
"If you are wondering why there are no cars or campers parked up, two things," writes William Fotheringham. "We saw a lot of signs on Sunday's route saying no parking on the verge ... also this morning, driving off the course to the press room, we saw dozens of people walking a long way (three miles at least) down a road (again no parking allowed) from a spectator car park. The idea, it seems, is to keep cars away from the course to avoid mega congestion around the race. If you're feeling kind, plug me twitter feed. Occasional nuggets; some accurate."
Consider it plugged, Fothers.
French television have realised this stage is "more complicated than it looked on paper". should have asked @chrishoy like we did :-)
The peloton snakes past St John the Baptist church in East Witton, with all in it pedaling at a fairly sedate pace. As if sensing that we're all very worried about them, the riders of Mark Cavendish's Omega Pharma-Quick Step team hove into view at the front of the bunch.
Lotto Belisol continue to do the hard work at the front of the bunch, pushing the pace in the hope of making it difficult for Andre Greipel's riders. On Eursport, Sean Kelly is talking ab out how neither Mark Cavendish nor his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team have been prominent in the bunch, aslthough there is a suggestion that his team-mate Alessandro Petacchi was dropped on the last climb. The bunch have moved from the narrow roads of the dales and are now on wider roads, which ought to enable the bunch of riders who were shelled to get back in touch with the peloton.
Sterling work at the front of the peloton by the riders from Lotto Belisol means that Jens Voigt's solo adventure is over for today. With 55.4 kilometres to go, the riders are on the run for home.
Sorry about that pause in transmission. Crazy Jens's lead is down to just over a minute as he heads for the top of the third climb of the day, the Côte de Griton Moor. He'll wear the polka dot jersey tomorrow, assuming he finishes today. He certainly won't be winning the stage and is well aware the jig is up. He'll sit up, have some food and drink and wait until they reel him in.
Jens Voigt continues to lead the peloton by 2min 58sec. Behind the bunch, a number of riders were dropped on the climb up Buttertubs and have lost almost a minute on the bunch already. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Dani Navarro (Cofidis) are among the biggish names who are struggling on day one of the Tour.
Apologies, but I'm going to selfishly abandon my post briefly to dash downstairs and grab a sandwich and a cup of tea. In my absence, here's another video from the Global Cycling Network, in which they spend the day with Alberto Contador and his Saxo Tinkoff team.
Eurosport's commentary team report that they've been told by people from Jens Voigt's Trek team that the German has every intention of going for the stage win this afternoon. He has another climb, Le Côte de Griton Moor, to negotiate in about 10 kilometres time and then it's 60 kilometres to Harrogate. He leads by 3min 11sec.
A free plug for Chaps barber shop in Ilkley. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
Jens Voigt was first over Buttertubs and was followed by Nicolas Edert, who wins a point for his trouble. Further back, Benoit Jarrier has been swallowed by the peloton and the same fate awaits Edert, who has accepted his fate and given up the ghost. The gap between Voigt and the bunch, which is being led by the riders of Lotto Belisol, is 3min 41sec and there are just over 76 kilomtres to go.
Jens Voigt crosses the summit of Buttertubs and hoovers up the two points on offer for King of the Mountains. He's 3min 25sec ahead of his former escape partners and 4min 33sec clear of the peloton. Interestingly, the road is so narrow and the throng of people lining it so vast, that the peloton keeps having to stop as a result of bottleneck induced traffic congestion.
Jens Voigt continues to make his way up Buttertubs, where there is a quite phenomenal crowd of people roaring encouragement. The number of people that has turned out is quite astonishing - hats off to every single one of them. One strange thing, though - while there are quite a few bikes visible on the roadside, there doesn't seem to be any cars or camper vans parked anywhere nearby. How the hell did everyone get there?
Peter Sagen's team-mates move towards the front of the peloton to do a turn, hopeful that the ramp near the finish of today's stage might catch out some of the sprinters and suit their man better. Giant-Shimano rider John Degenkolb is another man who might be suited by today's stage finish and I've had a nibble on him at 33-1. Of course, chances are that the sprinters such as Marcel Kittel, Andre Greipel and Mark Cavendish, whose mum hails from Harrogate, will duke it out for the honour of wearing the yellow jersey tomorrow. Their team-mates will need to reel in Voigt first, mind.
Jens Voigt, who is 42, continues to put the hammer down as he extends his lead over the chasing duo - Benoit Jarrier and Nicolas Edet - to 2min 53sec. He's 5min 03sec clear of the peloton and just over four kilomtres away from the top of the Côte de Buttertubs, where he'll earn himself two King of the Mountains points.
The riders have passed through the feeding station and Jens Voigt's face is a mask of concentration as he increases the gap between himself and Benoit Jarrier and Nicolas Edet to a minute. He leads the peloton by a little over five minutes and they'll be aware that their German colleague has a lot of "previous" in the field of nicking stages like this.
Riding in his final Tour de France, Jens Voigt has opened a 30 second lead on Benoit Jarrier and Nicolas Edet, who are in turn 4min 30sec ahead of the peloton. I don't think anyone would begrudge Voigt a victory today, but he would probably increase his chances of victory later this afternoon if he stopped waving at various spectators shouting encouragement from the roadside.
"Funny how head of Guardian Online sport has managed to get himself a cushy assignment in a tea/cake shop at Le Tour," he says of Sean Ingle. "The people of Yorkshire (and the rest of the country if all the people I know who have gone) have done themselves proud. Although I'm not sure whether they're just going because it's not the usual the men in a bathtub that's the norm for around there."
I missed that first time around, but it really is well worth a look. The two lads certainly earned their mugs of tea, cake and cheese. Meanwhile back in the first stage, the peloton has just contested the intermediate sprint. Jens Voigt led the breakaway over the line and then did the dirty on his two fellow riders by refusing to slow down once he'd crossed the line, forcing them to give chase. Bryan Coquard (Europcar) was the first man from the peloton over the line in Newbiggn and was followed by Andre Greipel, Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish.
Somebody call James Herriott, because this dog has Tour de France fever. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
He's pinged me a missive to let me know that the riders are about to tackle the Buttertubs Pass, which he rode with knight of the realm and track speedster Sir Chris Hoy earlier this year. Here's the video ...
The riders from Andre Greipel's Lotto Belisol team lead the chase at the front of peloton as Jens Voigt tows the two other members of his escape party up the first climb of the day, the Côte de Cray. There's one King of the Mountains point up for grabs and it's taken by Benoit Jarrier, who's riding in his first Tour for the Bretagne-Séché team, who are a wild card entry in this year's Tour. He beats his compatriot Nicolas Edert over the top of the hill. Both sides of the road are so packed with spectators that the pair were barely able to race.
Himself and William Fotheringham are stuffing their faces with cake as they wait for the riders to arrive in town late this afternoon. It's dirty work, but I suppose somebody's got to do it ...
Meanwhile the famous Betty's tea shop is 200m from the finish of stage one. Have bought @willfoth a fat rascal ... pic.twitter.com/piosU8ZpjM
Back to the business in hand and the gap between the breakaway group of Jens Voigt, Nicolas Edet and Benoit Jarrier and the chasing peloton is 3min 21sec. Our leaders have just cycled past a field in which a flock of sheep, who have all been dyed bright yellow for the day that's in it, while there have been a couple of minor crashes at the back of the bunch as the roads get more narrow.
Keith Chapman from Kettlewell near Harrogate is one of many farmers in Yorkshire whose sheep have suffered for their owners' art this week. Photograph: John Giles/PA Photograph: John Giles/PA
Michael raises an interesting point about Kate, Duchess of Cambridgeshire, presenting the yellow jersey to today's stage winner. I was thinking about this last night and couldn't help but wonder what the Queen, whose relationship with her grand-daughter in law is rumoured to be strained at the best of times, makes of this new role as a Tour de France podium girl. I'm also curious to know if there'll be any breaches of royal protocol, considering it's quite possible that force of habit might prompt a sweaty Andre Greipel, Mark Cavendish or Marcel Kittel to give her the traditional kiss on each cheek when she zips them into the jersey. Heaven forbid that Peter Sagan might win today's stage. I should add that the Slovak rider subsequently issued a grovelling apology for his faux pas at the Tour of Flanders.
"Hello from France, where Le Figaro has offered its readership 10 good reasons to watch the Tour today," he says. "They include a) France are out of the World Cup so why bother watching it any more, b) You can learn new French cycling vocab such as, translated into English, pedaling with your ears, riding on a potato hunt (??!!), and doing a jackal, c) Kate Middleton is there to present today's yellow jersey, d) Tour de France riders don't get cramps in less than 90 minutes, as is the case for footballers in Brazil, they can stick it out for eight hours in the blazing sun, and e) If you are on the roadside you can get free publicity trinkets such as baseball caps and key rings. Add to that the fact that cycling is one of the few major sports that you don't have to pay to watch on TV and what's not to like?"
Peter Sagan Photograph: Simon Gill/ActionPlus/Corbis Photograph: Simon Gill/ Simon Gill/ActionPlus/Corbis
Peter Sagan, the bonkers Cannondale rider is sporting quite the bouffant for this year's Tour, which he describes as his "Wolverine haircut". ITV have just broadcast an interview with him in which he says he hopes it brings him luck. It'll probably cushion the blow if he's unlucky enough to fall off the bike and land on his head, but I'm not sure how it'll cope within the confines of his helmet for several hours each day. Here, in case you haven't seen it before, is Mr Wolverine parking his bike on the roof of a car.
The riders leave Skipton, which I vaguely remember featuring prominently in All Creatures Great And Small, one of several excellent books written by James Herriott, a Scottish vet who spent his working life in Yorkshire. There are 147 kilometres go and Giant-Shimano continue to tow the peloton along as they keep the gap between them and the three-man breakaway to a respectable 3min 11sec.
Princes William and Harry hold the official ribbon as Kate does the honours with the royal scissors. Photograph: Tim Rooke/REX Photograph: Tim Rooke/REX
"Some Tour pics from your ancient colleague Martin Wainright, now lazing in the sunshine in Leeds," writes my ancient colleague Martin Wainright, who has an MBE and was probably invited to help Kate snip the official Tour ribbon at Harewood House. Martin adds that this photo was "sent from my iPad Mini, a generous gift from my dear departed colleagues at The Guardian for which I am most grateful."
Martin Wainright goes talent-spotting Photograph: Martin Wainright/theguardian.com Photograph: Martin Wainright/theguardian.com
The gap between the three-man escape party and the peloton has judged edge over the three-minute work. Voigt, Edet and Jarrier are 3min 09sec clear. Minor housekeeping: Orica-GreenEdge rider Michael Matthews was unable to start this morning as he was suffering from an injury to his arm. He's been replaced by Christian Meier. Mathews had a bad fall in training earlier this week ahead of what was supposed to be his Tour debut and suffered some bad cuts to his hands, arms and shoulder.
Michael Matthews did not make the line-up for Australia's Orica-GreenEdge team this morning. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images
Spectators walk past cycling murals as they leave Harrogate train station ahead of the arrival of today's stage. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Giant-Shimano team rider Cheng Ji of China. Photograph: Christian Hartmann/Reuters Photograph: Christian Hartmann/Reuters
Presumably unsure quite what to make of today's stage, the peloton is keeping an eye on the breakaway, with Giant-Shimano making the pace at the front of the bunch in order to ensure the breakaway trio don't open too much of a gap. Apparently tireless Chinese rider Cheng Ji, the first man from his country to compete in the Tour, is their ace in the hole when it comes to pace-making. Known as the "breakaway killer", his speciality is towing the bunch along for long periods
With the riders making their way out of Otley, a group of three riders has broken away from the chasing peloton. It will come as no surprise to veteran Tour-watchers to learn that crazy Jens Voigt, king of the rouleurs, is one of them. The oldest rider in the race at the age of 42 (42!), Voigt rides for Trek Factory Racing and has Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne-Seche) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) with him for company. They lead the bunch by 2min 22sec.
Mark Cavendish of Omega Pharma Quickstep, Christopher Froome of Team Sky and Alberto Contador of Tinkoff Saxo leave Leeds city centre. Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images
Not a huge amount, to be honest. A bit of pomp and ceremony, but very little racing. The riders set off from Leeds Town Hall and made their way to Harewood House in a ceremonial procession. There, they paused for ther playing of the national anthems of France and Great Britain and a fly-past by the Red Arrows, then Prince William, Kate and Harry chatted with a few of the riders before sending them on their way once again with a snip of the royal scissors to cut the ceremonial Tour de France ribbon.In a nice touch, the Tour organisers presented William and Kate with a tiny bespoke maillot jaune for their son George.
Chris Froome of Team Sky and Andre Greipel of Lotto Belisol line up at the start line during the Grand Depart. Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images
Today's stage takes in 190.5 kilometres across the Yorkshire Dales and features no end of verdant scenery, narrow roads flanked by stone walls and three big hills: Côte de Cray (category 4), Côte de Buttertubs (category 3) and Côte de Griton (category 3). A sprint finish looks likely and the winner of today's stage will begin tomorrow's second stage in York wearing the yellow jersey.
William Fotheringham's guide to Stage One
As in 2013, a simple road race stage starts the Tour rather than a prologue time trial. Buttertubs and Gritton Moor would test a club cyclist but by the standards of the Tour this is relatively flat, with a few long drags over the moors, but not enough to split the bunch, although rain and wind could make life unpleasant if the British summer is in Wimbledon form.
The script is for a bunch sprint won by Mark Cavendish in his mother’s home town, but Marcel Kittel could well get in his way as he did several times in 2013 and another German, André Greipel will be in the mix as well.
As usual, our chums at the Global Cycling Network have invited us to jazz up our coverage with some of their excellent videos, the first of which is this preview of this year's Tour de France. Enjoy.
Bonjour! Welcome to our rolling report of Stage One of this year's Tour de France. This year's odyssey began in Yorkshire, with the riders congregating in Leeds for an 11am Grand Départ that was witnessed by ridiculously large crowds that looked to be lining the city's streets eight or nine deep in places. It's the first of 21 stages in a Tour being contested by 22 different teams of nine riders each.
That's 198 riders in total, with Sky's Chris Froome the even-money favourite to defend the title he won last year. Alberto Contador (15/8), Vincenzo Nibali (14/1), Alejandro Valverde (31/1), Andrew Talansky (37/1), Rui Costa (60/1) and Tejay Van Garderen (64/1) are the only riders priced up at less than 100/1 to beat him.
