<p>After a late pile-up on Nice's iconic Promenade des Anglais, Alexander Kristoff of UAE Emirates won a crash-marred opening stage of the Tour de France on Saturday.</p>.<p>The Norwegian will now wear the overall race leader's yellow jersey, having fought back from an early fall that looked like ruling him out.</p>.<p>The 2020 Tour set off two months later than planned due to the coronavirus and under strict health protocols.</p>.<p>However, the first rain in the Mediterranean city since June turned the opening jaunt of the 21-day race into a lottery with one motorbike race official describing the road surface as an ice rink.</p>.<p>Key victims of the multiple crashes included French hopes Thibaut Pinot and Julian Alaphilippe, with Colombia's Astana captain Miguel Angel Lopez suffering a jaw-dropping downhill slide that saw him slam face-first into a traffic sign.</p>.<p>British team Ineos were left to fret over their Russian climber Pavel Sivakov, who fell twice, riding with both elbows bloodied.</p>.<p>Top riders, led by the Jumbo team, were shocked by the crash and a truce was called that slowed down the pace.</p>.<p>"That was great for me, allowed me to get right back in," said Kristoff, who had been around six minutes adrift after his own tumble.</p>.<p>"This is a special Tour, even I am surprised," said the 33-year-old who admitted his season's targets were the coming one-day races, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.</p>.<p>Along the final flat home straight the speed had risen to around 65 km/h when the fall left 30 or so riders ahead alone with dozens of startled contenders sprawled.</p>.<p>The heavy Covid-19 atmosphere weighing on the seaside city was lightened slightly at the start when French government minister Michel Blanquer sent out a rare message of hope the Tour would make it all the way to Paris in three weeks' time.</p>.<p>"You can't rule out the cancellation of the Tour, but it has been so well prepared that the possibilities of it happening are very slim," he said.</p>.<p>Prince Albert of Monaco played local game boules in the VIP village at the start line but the Italian style red-roofed city was eerily empty on the day, as fans had been asked to stay away, and even the pebbled Nice beach was semi-deserted.</p>.<p>Local paper Nice-Matin raised eyebrows on Saturday running a picture of the Dutch team Jumbo's leader Primoz Roglic, one of the favourites, instead of a Frenchman.</p>.<p>But the key Frenchmen in the race both had days to forget.</p>.<p>After 14 days in the lead last year Alaphilippe was forced to fight back alone from two minutes down after a mechanical issue.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, luckless fan favourite Pinot was involved in the last of many falls as the peloton swept along the rain-sodden seafront walkway.</p>.<p>"That's road racing," said Pinot's manager Marc Madiot. "Nothing a good night's sleep won't put right," he added after his star stormed back to the team bus refusing to speak.</p>.<p>Sunday's 186km stage also starts and ends in Nice but will be run under blue skies and over the Alps in the Nice backcountry.</p>.<p>"The Tour has never gone so high, so early," Tour chief Christian Prudhomme said of the two climbs of Colmiane and Turini, both over 1500m high just a few kilometres back from the beachfront walkways.</p>.<p>Burly yellow jersey Kristoff is too heavyset to have a hope of coming home with the favourites on Sunday.</p>.<p>"I guess I'll lose the jersey," he said. "But I'm near the end of my career and I've got four kids, so I'll just try and enjoy the day."</p>
<p>After a late pile-up on Nice's iconic Promenade des Anglais, Alexander Kristoff of UAE Emirates won a crash-marred opening stage of the Tour de France on Saturday.</p>.<p>The Norwegian will now wear the overall race leader's yellow jersey, having fought back from an early fall that looked like ruling him out.</p>.<p>The 2020 Tour set off two months later than planned due to the coronavirus and under strict health protocols.</p>.<p>However, the first rain in the Mediterranean city since June turned the opening jaunt of the 21-day race into a lottery with one motorbike race official describing the road surface as an ice rink.</p>.<p>Key victims of the multiple crashes included French hopes Thibaut Pinot and Julian Alaphilippe, with Colombia's Astana captain Miguel Angel Lopez suffering a jaw-dropping downhill slide that saw him slam face-first into a traffic sign.</p>.<p>British team Ineos were left to fret over their Russian climber Pavel Sivakov, who fell twice, riding with both elbows bloodied.</p>.<p>Top riders, led by the Jumbo team, were shocked by the crash and a truce was called that slowed down the pace.</p>.<p>"That was great for me, allowed me to get right back in," said Kristoff, who had been around six minutes adrift after his own tumble.</p>.<p>"This is a special Tour, even I am surprised," said the 33-year-old who admitted his season's targets were the coming one-day races, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.</p>.<p>Along the final flat home straight the speed had risen to around 65 km/h when the fall left 30 or so riders ahead alone with dozens of startled contenders sprawled.</p>.<p>The heavy Covid-19 atmosphere weighing on the seaside city was lightened slightly at the start when French government minister Michel Blanquer sent out a rare message of hope the Tour would make it all the way to Paris in three weeks' time.</p>.<p>"You can't rule out the cancellation of the Tour, but it has been so well prepared that the possibilities of it happening are very slim," he said.</p>.<p>Prince Albert of Monaco played local game boules in the VIP village at the start line but the Italian style red-roofed city was eerily empty on the day, as fans had been asked to stay away, and even the pebbled Nice beach was semi-deserted.</p>.<p>Local paper Nice-Matin raised eyebrows on Saturday running a picture of the Dutch team Jumbo's leader Primoz Roglic, one of the favourites, instead of a Frenchman.</p>.<p>But the key Frenchmen in the race both had days to forget.</p>.<p>After 14 days in the lead last year Alaphilippe was forced to fight back alone from two minutes down after a mechanical issue.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, luckless fan favourite Pinot was involved in the last of many falls as the peloton swept along the rain-sodden seafront walkway.</p>.<p>"That's road racing," said Pinot's manager Marc Madiot. "Nothing a good night's sleep won't put right," he added after his star stormed back to the team bus refusing to speak.</p>.<p>Sunday's 186km stage also starts and ends in Nice but will be run under blue skies and over the Alps in the Nice backcountry.</p>.<p>"The Tour has never gone so high, so early," Tour chief Christian Prudhomme said of the two climbs of Colmiane and Turini, both over 1500m high just a few kilometres back from the beachfront walkways.</p>.<p>Burly yellow jersey Kristoff is too heavyset to have a hope of coming home with the favourites on Sunday.</p>.<p>"I guess I'll lose the jersey," he said. "But I'm near the end of my career and I've got four kids, so I'll just try and enjoy the day."</p>