On his birthday Alexander Kristoff had a great chance to take the first yellow jersey of the Tour de France but like so many others he was held up behind the late crash. In fact, the Norwegian couldn't really believe how he had avoided hitting the deck himself.

The opening stage of the 101st Tour de France provided plenty of drama on stage one from Leeds to Harrogate. A crash coming in the closing meters saw Katusha rider Alexander Kristoff able to avoid the fallen riders and stay upright to the finish, but with his sprint impeded the Norwegian birthday boy had to settle for seventh place.

"It was bad luck today in the final. The crash happened just in front of me and I’m not sure how I managed to pass by and not fall down. I was lucky not to crash, but I missed a good opportunity in the sprint. In the final I had a really good position with 200 meters to go. I felt good during the entire stage and the team was strong today. I want to thank all of the guys for the work. In the final kilometers Luca [Paolini] and Aleksandr [Porsev] put me in a good position for where I wanted to be in the last few hundred meters.  Anyway, it was just the first stage. There are many more stages to come," said Alexander Kristoff.

Team Katusha put no less than four riders in the front with Kristoff, hoping to guide the sprinting success all the way to the line. Luca Paolini and Vladimir Isaychev were active in the leadout, as was newly crowned Russian national champion Aleksandr Porsev, wearing his national kit for the first time since last week’s win.

"I am satisfied with the team's work. All of our riders did a strong race. In last part of the distance we worked a lot and stayed in front, preparing the sprint for Kristoff. Everything went well until the crash, which changed everything, but there was nothing we could do. Yes, from one side is bad luck, but from the other side, Alex did not crash and this is the main thing. Today we showed that the team is ready and we can do good work for Alex and to bring him in sprint where he has to be to have the chances for a good result,"added head sports director José Azevedo.

The chaotic opening sprint was won by Marcel Kittel of Giant-Shimano, repeating his performance in last year’s opening stage to take the victory and the first yellow jersey. Coming in at the same time were Peter Sagan of Cannondale and Ramunus Navardauskas (Garmin Sharp) with a time of 4:44:07.  Kristoff’s group arrived four seconds later but all were given the same time on the classification because of the late crash. 

The 190 km stage began in Leeds and featured a 45-minute parade route before meeting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for the official start of the Tour de France in Harrogate. Straight from the gun three riders slipped away, including the oldest rider in the peloton participating in his 17th and final Tour, Jens Voigt of Trek Factory Racing. The trio built up a gap of over three minutes, with Voigt collecting enough points on the three climbs to claim the first King of the Mountain polka dot jersey. His time off the front was over with 60 km to go as the rolling terrain and crosswinds continued to affect the progress of the main field.

Keeping a low profile as he continues to build form was Katusha rider Joaquim Rodriquez.

"I have good feelings after the stage. I tried to not take any risk and to pass the stage calmly and without pressure. I am pretty satisfied with my first stage at the Tour de France," said Joaquim Rodriguez.

With 3665 km in total for this year’s race, there will be plenty more opportunities for Alexander Kristoff and the other sprinters, although Sunday’s stage two might not be one of them. The 201 km stage begins in York and ends in Sheffield. Along the way are nine categorized climbs on small, narrow roads to challenge the riders of the 2014 Tour de France. 

There was no lack of festive atmosphere on the opening stage with a crowd estimate of more than 250,000 along the route.  The Royal Air Force Red Arrows flying team was also featured in the opening ceremony and even the farmers of the region took up the excitement by dying their wooly sheep a bright color of yellow.