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but the Frenchman slotted in right behind to tie the leaders up at eight points apiece. The terrain coming out of the modest climb continued to roll onward toward the finish in Plumelec. The peloton was within three minutes of the breakaway as Lequatre took the hat trick of intermediate sprints at Remungol with forty kilometers remaining. The gap was closing rapidly, and the breakaway splintered as riders either slowly reentered the peloton or attacked ahead in vain hopes of arriving in Plumelec with enough of an advantage to win.

De La Fuente and Jegou soldiered on in their search for a stage victory. The peloton suffered several more crashes as the riders neared Plumelec. Seven kilometers from the finish, the race was all back together and the sprinters started pressing the pace and getting their speedsters in position to contend the uphill sprint finish. Just inside the final ten kilometers, another crash saw last year's winner of the King of the Mountains, Mauricio Soler (Barloworld), tumble to the tarmac. He fell on the same wrist he fractured in the Giro d'Italia, and also looks to have damaged the other wrist. X-rays will be taken to decide whether he will continue, a tough break for the Colombian climbing sensation.

As the racers rounded through Plumelec and turned over a bridge to tackle the final climb, a headwind spread apart the attackers at the front. Kim Kirchen bridged the attack led by Stefan Schumacher, and countered to take the lead up the climb. He looked set to take the opening stage within the final 250 meters, but instead it was the Spanish superstar, Alejandro Valverde, who took the victory. He blew past Kirchen with a hundred meters to go and opened up enough of a lead to sit up and celebrate his second career Tour stage victory. Now it only remains to be seen if he has grown up since 2005 and can sustain this success through the entire three weeks...

Results - Stage 1
1. Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Caisse d'Epargne 4:36:07 (42.917Kph)
2. Philippe Gilbert (BEL), Francaise des Jeux at 0:01
3. Jerome Pineau (FRA), Bouygues Telecom
4. Kim Kirchen (LUX), Columbia
5. Riccardo Ricco (ITA), Saunier Duval
6. Cadel Evans (AUS), Silence-Lotto
7. Frank Schleck (LUX), CSC
8. Filippo Pozzato (ITA), Liquigas
9. Oscar Freire (ESP), Rabobank
10. Oscar Pereiro (ESP), Caisse d'Epargne, all s.t.

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