Stage 1 Of Tour Full Of Crashes

After Saturday's prologue the Tour de France got serious with it's first full stage on Sunday. Stage 1 was expected to be rather uneventful since it was a long and flat stage -- tailor-made for the race's sprinters. But the stage turned out to be full of crashes, including an early crash caused by a dog running out into the road (the dog was not hurt). The biggest crashes both occurred during the last kilometer of the 225.5 kilometer race, with the last crash being massive enough to block the entire road for a couple of minutes.

Several of the best sprinters were able to avoid that last crash and they made an exciting dash for the finish line. The winner of Stage 1 (pictured) was Italian rider Alessandro Petacchi (Lamprey-Farnese). Australian Mark Renshaw (HTC-Columbia) finished second and Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) finished in third place. Petacchi is now wearing the Green Jersey.

Since the peloton (riders in the main group) finished together, the overall and team standings remained the same (those who crash in the last three kilometers are considered to have finished with the peloton). The race for the Green Jersey is the only division that showed any changes. There have still not been any points awarded for the Polka Dot Jersey (for climbers) but that will change on Monday. Stage 2 is a 177 km race from Brussels to Spa and it has several climbs. There are three category 4 climbs followed by three category 3 climbs.

Here are the current standings in all divisions:

YELLOW JERSEY (Overall Standings)

1. Fabian Cancellara, Switzerland (Saxo Bank)

2. Tony Martin, Germany (HTC-Columbia).....10 sec

3. David Millar, Great Britain (Garmin-Transitions).....20 sec

4. Lance Armstrong, USA (Radio Shack).....22 sec

5. Geraint Thomas, Great Britain (Sky Pro).....23 sec

6. Alberto Contador, Spain (Astana).....27 sec

7. Tyler Farrar, USA (Garmin-Transitions).....28 sec

8. Levi Leipheimer, USA (Radio Shack).....28 sec

9. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Norway (Sky Pro).....32 sec

10. Linus Gerdemann, Germany (Milram).....35 sec

11. Brent Bookwalter, USA (BMC Racing).....35 sec

12. Adriano Malori, Italy (Lampre-Farnese).....35 sec

13. Janez Brajkovic, Slovenia (Radio Shack).....35 sec

14. Michael Rogers, Australia (HTC-Columbia).....35 sec

GREEN JERSEY (Sprinters)

1. Alessandro Petacchi, Italy (Lamprey-Farnese).....35 pts

2. Mark Renshaw, Australia (HTC-Columbia).....30 pts

3. Thor Hushovd, Norway (Cervelo).....26 pts

4. Robbie McEwen, Australia (Katusha).....24 pts

5. Matthieu Ladagnous, France (FDJ).....22 pts

6. Daniel Oss, Italy (Liquigas-Doimo).....20 pts

7. Jose Joaquin Rojas, Spain (Caisse D'Epargne).....19 pts

8. Christian Knees, Germany (Milram).....18 pts

9. Geraint Thomas, Great Britain (Sky Pro).....17 pts

10. Ruben Perez Moreno, Spain (Euskaltel-Euskadi).....17 pts

POLKA DOT JERSEY (Climbers)

No points awarded yet

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Radio Shack

2. HTC-Columbia..........1 sec

3. Garmin-Transitions..........2 sec

4. Sky Pro..........16 sec

5. Astana..........20 sec

6. Saxo Bank..........22 sec

7. Caisse D'Epargne..........28 sec

8. BMC Racing..........30 sec

9. Liquigas-Doimo..........36 sec

10. Milram..........36 sec