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Stage One of The London-Paris saw a damp, but exciting start to the
event. 450 riders, including cycling legends Stephen Roche, Maurizio
Fondriest and cycling professionals Colin Lynch, Karl Platt and Magnus
Backstedt, gathered at Imber Court from 05:30 this morning. This year
there were a total of seven speed groups setting off at timed intervals.
Other sporting stars in this year’s peloton include Nigel Mansell, Joel
Stransky and John Salako to name a few. The riders cycled a total of
169kms, taking them through the Surrey Hills, East Sussex, past Ashford
and along to Dover.
The Yellow, Green and Red flagged time sections saw riders competing for
the General Classification, the Sprinter and the Climber jerseys. Greg
Mansell finishes Stage One with the Yellow Jersey. The Red Jersey went
to professional ex-German National mountain-biker Karl Platt, who took
King of the climbs by a very comfortable margin. The Green Jersey went
to the fastest sprinter of the day, Shaun Pearson and this year, Annette
Loubser took the Pink Jersey as the lead woman, piping Tanya Slater –
the fastest woman for the last few years – to the post. Tomorrow will be
an interesting day for the ladies as there were seconds between them.
The handcyclists got off to a great start, despite the difficult weather
conditions and the very early start for their group. Nigel Mansell got
to the HotChillee start-line following his epic journey cycling from
John O’Groats in the previous days. The rain managed to ease off by the
time the peloton was into the swing of Stage One and held off until just
before the riders boarded the boat. Tomorrow the riders will start from
Calais, heading south to Amiens.
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