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Cobbles sprint leads to crash on Tour de France stage 1

Stage 1 of the Tour de France to Lille was always likely to see crashes and a fiercely contested sprint, but few could have expected to see both of those things atop the second of the day’s classified climbs, the category 4 Mont Cassel.

Benjamin Thomas Matteo Vercher 2025 Tour de France stage 1
Cor Vos

Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) were clear at the head of the race on the cobbled climb, and the two Frenchmen were keen to take the single king of the mountains point on offer at the summit.

After leading over the preceding climb, the Côte de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Thomas knew that he could guarantee himself a day in the polka dot jersey if he beat Vercher to the line on Mont Cassel.

Thomas’ eagerness was already evident at the beginning of the sprint, when he almost shut the door on Vercher’s initial effort. After Vercher came past, Thomas still didn’t give up, and he pipped his compatriot to the line with a desperate bike throw.

The bumpy cobbles, however, caused Thomas to lose control of his bike as he lunged, and he crashed to the ground, bringing a frustrated Vercher down with him.

Both riders were able to remount and continue in the race, though they were immediately swept up by the chasing peloton. 

After leading over the first two of the day’s three category 4 climbs, Thomas is mathematically assured of the lead in the king of the mountains competition – unless, of course, the commissaires decide to take action after a review of the Mont Cassel sprint.

On a nervous day of racing, there was a spate of crashes, with Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) the first rider to abandon the Tour after his fall with 132km remaining. The Italian remounted and gave chase, but he withdrew from the race shortly after the climb of Mont Cassel. He was shortly joined by Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who also withdrew from the impact of a crash.

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