Valverde claims yellow after opening stage
Valverde won in four hours and 36 minutes
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Saturday, 05, Jul 2008 05:50
Spain's Alejandro Valverde won the opening stage of the Tour de France to claim the first yellow jersey of the tour.
The Caisse d'Epargne rider finished ahead of Belgium's Philippe Gilbert, with Jerome Pineau of France in third in a time of four hours and 36 minutes.
Britain’s David Millar finished in 11th place, a position which leaves him with reason to be optimistic for the future.
The 28-year old Valverde is one of the favourites to win the tour outright, and this victory in the opening stage has gotten him off to a flying start.
The Spaniard averaged a speed of 42.92km/h and held off a late challenge from Luxembourg’s Kim Kirchen to win in an exciting finish.
With 500m remaining Kirchen made his move, attempting to steal victory in a sprint finish, but Valverde was too strong and held on to claim yellow.
Race favourite Cadel Evans' hopes of winning the yellow jersey were dashed when team-mate Yaroslav Popovych was involved in a crash 60km from the end.
Herve Duclos-Lassalle, riding for the Cofidis team, became the first rider to withdraw from the race after he fractured his wrist in a crash.