Britain's Mark Cavendish completed cycling's prestigious set of distinctive jerseys when he won the crash-marred first stage of the Tour de France today to take the overall leader's yellow jersey, while Ireland's Sam Bennett was among the fallers in the sprint finish at the end.
Dimension Data rider Cavendish out-sprinted German Marcel Kittel and world champion Peter Sagan of Slovakia at the end of a 188km ride from Mont St Michel to near one of the D-Day beaches.
Cavendish, who now has 27 Tour stage wins to his name, held off his rivals after several opponents, including Bennett, had been taken out of contention following a crash in the final straight.
Cavendish wore the world champion's rainbow jersey after winning the road race in 2011, the pink jersey for the Giro d'Italia leader (in 2009, 2011 and 2013) as well as the red jersey for the Vuelta leader (2010).
The Manxman also secured the green jersey for the points classification on the Tour de France (2011).
Alberto Contador, twice Tour winner and one of the race favourites, crashed with about 80 kilometres left, suffering bruises to his shoulder, elbow and groin.
"He's got bruises on his shoulder, his elbow and groin," a race doctor said after the Spaniard had his right shoulder taped.
"At first sight it does not look like he has suffered any fracture. We gave him a painkiller."
Bennett of Bora Argon-18 travelled well throughout and had rode himself into contention, but was unfortunate at the end to be involved in the crash.
Bennett has since been taken to hospital, however, he did get back on his bike and finish the stage, 6.49 behind Cavendish. Ireland's other competitor, Etixx-QuickStep rider Dan Martin, finished 54th, 32 seconds off the pace.
Sam Bennett looked to be holding his arm as he crossed the finish line. Hopefully he's OK to continue. pic.twitter.com/zMRPAirvl1
— The Bike Comes First (@bikecomesfirst) July 2, 2016
