Richie Porte emerged just about unscathed to stay in contention after a chaotic rain-affected opening stage of the Tour de France.
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As rain fell in Nice for the first time in months, the 35-year-old Tasmanian was among many riders to crash, but bounced back to finish in 115th place with the same time as stage winner Alexander Kristoff, of Norway.
Porte had the consolation of seeing his Trek-Segafredo teammate Mads Pedersen, of Denmark, finish second to claim the lead in the young riders' classification.
Contesting his 10th Tour de France, Porte posted a picture of the rain-soaked stage on Instagram with the message: "Judging by the faces everybody was having a ball during today's first stage, good to finally get the show on the road."
The Launceston rider, whose wife Gemma is expecting their second child in Monaco next month, crashed with 70 of the stage's 156 kilometres remaining and resumed 90 seconds adrift of the peloton.
SBS commentator Matt Keenan called it "a mild touch down for Richie", and Porte was safely delivered back to the main bunch by teammate Toms Skujins.
With more than 7300 new cases announced on Saturday, France witnessed its highest jump in coronavirus since its national lockdown, prompting many to doubt whether Le Tour will be completed.
Good to finally get the show on the road
- Richie Porte
Wurf static
Geraint Thomas may have been a shock omission from this year's Tour de France, but the 2018 winner has been joking that it wasn't the hardest thing he had to deal with this week.
The Welshman is a teammate of Cam Wurf at Team Ineos and said his immediate training schedule will be alongside the talkative Tasmanian.
In a message to his half a million Twitter followers, Thomas said: "For the next week or so I'll be riding next to @cameronwurf for hour after hour. Anyone have any good podcast recommendations? #CamFM #humanradio and #chat."
Hobart-born Wurf, 37, last raced at the four-stage Tour de Wallonie in Belgium earlier this month, finishing 60th overall.
Campbell Town's Will Clarke finished 65th on the opening stage of the Tour of Hungary.
The 35-year-old Trek-Segafredo teammate of Porte was 2:04 behind the winner after the 117.5km stage beginning and ending in the city of Esztergom.
Last week, Clarke finished 86th in the 247.75km one-day Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France.
State champs
Jason Lea claimed the Tasmanian road championship after a top-quality race at Bishopsbourne.
Rio Olympian Scott Bowden came second with Ben Van Dam third.
A record field of 124 took part with other category winners being: Jordan Matthews (B), Scott Schilg (C), Lauren Perry (D), Andrew Macdonald (E), and Ross Jenkins (F).
Junior winners were: Hamish Mckenzie, Mia Brown (17s), Alex Eaves, Meika Derrico (15s), Thomas Blazely, Sybille O'Rourke (13s), Sid Natera and Rory Stretton (11s).