Alaphilippe leads peloton in Tour de France 2021 Grand Départ
Landerneau, Jun 26 (EFE).- French cyclist Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck Quick Step) arrived first to the finish line in Stage 1 of the Tour de France Saturday, in the first of 21 races across the country scheduled from June 26 to July 18.
Alaphilippe, the 2020 UCI road race world champion, finished the first stretch of the Tour in four hours, 39 minutes and 05 seconds.
The second and third place on the inaugural 197.8 kilometers across Brittany were achieved by Australian Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange) and Slovenian Primož Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), both crossing the finish line eight seconds after Alaphilippe.
Alaphilippe takes the first winning yellow jersey, a strong start reminiscent of his 14-day lead in 2019 until Egan Bernal, absent this time around, overtook him and went on to win the Tour de France that year.
Copenhagen was originally going to stage the 2021 edition’s Grand Départ in what was supposed to be the first Tour de France incursion in Denmark, but was postponed to 2022 due to clashing with Euro 2020 events, moving this year’s kick-off to Brest in western France.
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