Round-up of 2011 Tour de France from Stage 1 to Stage 15: Part 1
2011 Tour de France started on July 2 and will cover a total distance of 3,430.5 kilometres with 21 stages in total. Cyclists will go through summits, flat plains, mountains and passes. There are 22 teams with nine cyclists in each team, making a total of
198 cyclists participating in this year’s Tour de France.
There will be a total of 23 summit finishes or mountain with 2 in Cevennes, 1 in Jura, 8 in Alps and 12 in Pyrenees. There will be 10 flat stages, 6 mountain stages, 3 medium stages, 1 Individual Time Trial stage of 42.5 kilometres and 1 team Time Trial
stage of 23 kilometres with 2 rest days.
Stage 1
First stage of 2011 Tour de France started from Passage du Gois La Barre-de-Monts and finished at Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers, covering a distance of 191.5 kilometres.
New Belgian National Champion, Philippe Gilbert, continued his winning-strike with the start of 2011 Tour de France. Gilbert was under huge pressure as expectations were high and when Fabian Cancellara of Leopard Trek jumped back in the game with only 600
metres to go, Gilbert displayed his determination as he sprung back into the game.
Gilbert was chased by Evald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky and Thor Hushovd, but the Belgian cyclist continued his efforts till he crossed the finish line to win and only six seconds ahead over Cadel Evans of BMC.
Gilbert, while receiving the yellow jersey, shared his feelings, “It’s hard to take in what I’m doing as Liege Bastogne- Liege was a childhood dream and today as well. Winning the stage and getting the yellow jersey – I dreamt about it”
The Tour started off rather quietly, until the last few kilometres, when Maxim Iglinskiy of Astana went down after clipping a spectator, he was leading the race before he wiped quite a few cyclists close to him, including Contador and Samuel Sanchez.
The top three cyclists at the end of the stage one were Philippe Gilbert, Cadel Evans and Thor Hushovd. Geraint Thomas of Sky Procycling was awarded as the best young rider and Jeremy Roy with the first position with 20 points at Sprint 1 of 87 kilometres.
French cyclist, Perrig Quemeneur of Team European, was declared as the Most Combative rider after stage 1 spreading over 191 kilometres.
Article continued from Round-up of 2011 Tour de France from Stage 1 to Stage 15: Part 2
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