With the first stage passing through the home town of France's last winner, Bernard Hinault, in 1985, it took only two km for one of the French riders to attack.

Lilian Jegou's break was soon followed by seven other riders, and they went on to build a maximum lead of just over eight minutes, at the 29km mark, before the peloton decided to react.

Valverde's team played a vital role in the chase, helping to halve its deficit by the time it had passed through the feed zone at the midway stage.

Jegou and Spaniard David de la Fuente then pulled away at the front, but they were reeled in with 7.5km to go and from then on it was chaos as the race's punchers and yellow-jersey men fought to get to the front.

There were several crashes on the race, including two involving Evans' teammates.

Yaroslav Popovych, one of Evans' key mountain lieutenants, managed to ride away from a crash but with a right wrist injury.

Moments earlier, Belgian Johan Van Summeren survived, but was left with scrapes and scars on his inner thigh after going through the back windscreen of the Team Columbia car after braking too late.

Australian Mark Renshaw, who rides for Credit Agricole with compatriot Simon Gerrans, admitted it had been a chaotic day in the saddle.

"It was very tough out there," Renshaw told AFP.

"There wasn't a meter of flat all day and a lot of crosswinds. It was not a nice way to start the Tour."

Renshaw was mystified at what happened to his team leader Thor Hushovd in the finale, and admitted that Valverde's win was no big surprise.

"We all knew he was the favorite for today, it's a perfect finish for him - a climbing sprinter's finish. And he's one of the fastest punchers out there."

He added: "Today it was 100 percent for Thor. I'm not sure what happened with him at the finish, but there's still another 20 stages to go."

Aussie Robbie McEwen, who crashed prior to the Cadoudal climb on his Tour debut in 1997, finished almost a minute behind but will be one to watch for an anticipated sprint finish on Sunday.

(AFP via China Daily July 7, 2008)