Peter Sagan had his first career Tour de France victory in Stage 1, taking a sprint finish win over Tour leader Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan). The 22 year old Liquigas-Cannondale rider was able to stick with Cancellara's wheel when Cancellara jumped off with 1.5km to go, and he easily came around the yellow jersey holder for the stage win. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) was also present at the finish and took third.
Santa Rosa based Team BMC achieved their goal for the day, keeping defending champion Cadel Evans out of any trouble, avoiding crashes and arriving at the finish line in the top 10 of the General Classification. They did some pulling in the final chase of the breakaway, but much of the day's work was done by Team Radioshack-Nissan, who were eager to preserve Cancellara's lead. Team Sky's Tony Martin and Rabobank's Luis Leon Sanchez both had bad luck in Sunday's stage, with Martin crashing early in the stage and Sanchez going down late.
The General Classification after Stage 1:
1) Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan) 5:05:32
2) Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling) +:07
3) Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) +:07
4) Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) +:10
5) Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky Procycling) +:11
6) Denis Menchov (Katusha Team) +:13
7) Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) +:13
8) Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) +:17
9) Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) +:18
10) Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin - Sharp) +:18
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