Germany’s Marcel Kittel celebrates as he crosses the finish line at the end of the 213km first stage of the 100th edition of the Tour de France between Porto-Vecchio and Bastia. (AFP)

AFP/Corsica

Double champion Alberto Contador took a spectacular tumble as the Tour de France got off to a chaotic start with German Marcel Kittel winning a crash-marred opening stage yesterday.
The Orica GreenEdge team bus got stuck under the finish-line banner as a speeding peloton was approaching and was moved away just minutes before Kittel outsprinted a decimated bunch to claim the yellow jersey.
“It feels like I have gold on my shoulders. It is unbelievable, I’m so, so proud that we made it today,” Kittel said after a 213-km ride from Porto Vecchio along the turquoise waters of the east coast of Corsica.
Spaniard Contador, one of the pre-race favourites, was among the riders caught up in a crash with four kilometres left and he crossed the line with the left side of his jersey torn up and his face a mask of pain.
“He is all right but it is after the night that we will see how he has recuperated from the crash. There is no fracture,” Contador’s sports director at Team Saxo-Tinkoff, Philippe Mauduit, said.
Contador told reporters: “It hurts. We put ice on it. The Tour is the Tour, you never know what can happen.”
Slovakian prodigy Peter Sagan, who won the green jersey for the points classification last year, also crashed as the peloton got jittery when they heard the finish-line had been moved to the three-kilometre line.
Double time-trial world champion Tony Martin of Germany crashed heavily, too, and suffered a suspected collarbone fracture. He was carried on a stretcher into an ambulance from his team bus.
Pre-stage favourite Mark Cavendish of Britain was held up behind the crash that took down dozen of riders and could not contest the final sprint. “I count myself lucky,” the British champion said.
The Orica GreenEdge team bus was eventually moved away before the peloton’s arrival. Organisers said that all riders would be credited with the same time because of the incidents. “Eight kilometres from the finish, I informed the teams that the line was being moved to three kilometres from the finish,” race director Jean-Francois Pescheux said.
“Then I was informed that eventually the bus was moved and I told the teams that the original finish-line was maintained, which disturbed the peloton.”
Fabrizio Guidi, the other sports director at Team Saxo-Tinkoff, said: “It was an insanely chaotic stage and it’s really a shame for everyone that the stage was opened in this chaos. We were confused to say the least in the car behind the field.
“First we were told that the finish line was moved because of a bus blocking the road. We passed the information on to the riders, who then did the sprint.
“The moment later, the finish line was moved back to its original spot and then in all the confusion the big crash happened.”
There were also early nerves for overwhelming favourite Chris Froome of Britain, who suffered a minor crash in the neutral zone before the start. He escaped unhurt.
Today’s second stage will take the peloton over 156 kilometres on a hilly course from Bastia to Ajaccio.

Martin set to be first Tour casualty


Two-time world time-trial champion Tony Martin looked set to be the first rider to withdraw from the  Tour de France, as the German was taken to hospital with a serious-looking injury following a fall in yesterday's opening stage.
A host of riders, among them Alberto Contador, went to ground as the finish of the first stage was marred by a series of crashes. Martin, world time trial champion in 2011 and 2012, came off the worst of all, with reports that he fainted twice before he was carried away on a stretcher to be taken to hospital in Bastia.
There were unconfirmed reports that he had suffered a fractured shoulder, and there seems little chance of the 28-year-old being at the start line for today’s second stage, from Bastia to Ajaccio. Losing a team-mate of Martin’s calibre would be a big blow to Mark Cavendish’s prospects of enjoying a successful Tour, as the Isle of Man sprint specialist seeks to regain the green jersey for the best sprinter that he won in 2011 before losing out to Peter Sagan last year.