Greig Leach

Alexander Kristoff (Katsuha) finished off the work that his teammates had put in for the last thirty miles. The fast man from Norway has had a great early season and I am sure was frustrated to not have won the opening stage of this Tour. Amazingly, he only narrowly beat out the sprint king, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) who had been out in the break for most of the stage and on his own for at least twenty miles. How the World Champion had the legs to stay with the peloton is a surprise, but being able to contest the sprint with men who hadn't had their noses in the wind all day is something else altogether! Brian Coquard (Direct Energie) managed a fourth on the day, being held off from the podium by Danny Van Poppel (Team Sky). It should prove to be a very exciting final sprint tomorrow.