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Rain, twisting descents and race tension led to a series of crashes during the first stage of the Tour de France around Nice.
Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) was caught in one of the first to crash after 50 km. He then crashed again after a solo chase on the descent, as Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) also chased him after a slow bike change.
Sivakov had blood oozing from both arms and he struggled to ride his bike. He was four minutes behind the peloton when the driver passed the finish line in Nice, and Ineos Grenadiers left him to go on alone.
Rain fell on the cyclist on the first descent of the Côte de Rimiez and caused more spills. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) also fell behind at a time when the peloton split on relegation.
Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) crashed high on the Côte de Rimiez but jumped up and quickly got back on his bike.
Other accidents on the streets of the city of Nice were those of Ilnur Zakarin (CCC Team), Kevin Ledanois (Akea-Samsic), Domeinco Pozzovivo (NTT Pro Cycling), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) , Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain McLaren) and others crashing, while Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) also distanced himself until the peloton relented in solidarity.
Luke Rowe of Ineos Grenadiers and George Bennett of Team Jumbo-Visma tried to convince the peloton to roll carefully in the rain, but others were eager to keep running.
Veteran Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) convinced the platoon to ride carefully by waving his arms. Astana tried to pick up the pace only for Karma to intervene by bike and Miguel Ángel López locked the brakes and slowly crashed into a signpost.
Then the peloton decided to relax and ride the last ascent and descent together before racing down the coastal road again.
At the request of several riders, the race stewards decided to take the times of the general classification at the three-kilometer mark point to avoid danger in the final.
A final crash saw more riders go down, including Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), but the crash occurred approximately 10 meters within the three-kilometer point, so all affected riders were given the same time as Kristoff.
“Everybody was crashing, but I told myself it was easier than riding on ice in Norway,” Kristoff said.
“I think it was the right decision to take it easy on the downs so we don’t lose any important contenders on the first day.”
