Le Tour On Its Way

The Breton City had paid €1.5m split between four cities, four departments and ten sponsors to stage the opening stage and second and third stages of Le Tour and congratulations must go for a job well done as the organisation and planning which started three years ago was superb down to the finest detail.

Two big events on Thursday with the riders launch and Friday night which saw a caviar and smoked salmon soiree followed by a concert by singer Michel Drucker and a host of other stars at the local version of Seaworld.

The rain which made it a chilly night had subsided and it was a bright sunny day as the riders arrived on their team coaches in Brest shortly before 10.45am local time.

There were some nervous and apprehensive faces on the riders as they signed in and warmed up. One of those clearly nervous was Brit David Millar.



Speaking to Covsupport News Service about the start of the race, Millar said; "This is going to be a hard stage. ""I'm nervous but looking forward to it but I don't really know what to expect."

Getting to the start line was a challenge in itself with riders having to dodge cars, media and some of the thousands around the City all trying to get to where they wanted to be.

After the national anthem and presentations, a whistle was sounded and finally the riders got on their way on the first stage which is a 197.5 kilometre dash to Plumlec.



Despite his reticence, Millar rode the stage well finishing in 11th place with Mark Cavendish in the peleton in 120th pllace. Caisse D'Esperange rider Alesjandro Valverde won the stage in a time of four hours and 36 mins.

Cavendish's team mate Kim Kirchen finished in fifth and his team director Rolf Aldag said: "The guys did everything we planned today. "In the last five kilometres, they gave everything and did a perfect job to lead out Kirchen for the final uphill climb. "What is really great is Kim was right up there, really confident and he gave it a go today."