Tour Stage 1: Where He Left Off

You can look at this title two ways both proving that Marcel Kittel (Giant Shimano) is a very powerful, fast sprinter.  Kittel won the final sprint of the 2013 Tour de France on the Champs Elysees and then picked up the victory of the very next Tour de France stage, today.  Also, he won the first stage of the 2013 Tour in a very similar fashion, down to Mark Cavendish (OPQS) crashing on the final approach to the line.  With his win in Leeds, Kittel will pull on the very first Maillot Jaune of the 101st Tour de France.  However, it may be short lived with the climbs that are facing the peloton in the second stage on the narrow roads of England.  Kittel was followed across the line by Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin Sharp) and Bryan Coquard (Europcar).  It was Coquard that narrowly avoided going down when Simon Gerrans (Orica- GreenEdge) and Cavendish fought for a piece of the roadway.  This is an original small watercolor and ink painting that is available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  This painting will also be included in my soon to be self published collection of cycling art and writings, "Book de Tour".  To learn more about the book project, to pre-order and to become part of bring the book to print visit my fundraising site at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1335072134/book-de-tour.  To purchase this particular painting, just follow the direct link at the end of this post.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-view/Tour%20de%20France%202014/2396632---199992/Painting.html#.U7h3hc_D_IU