The delayed Grand Tour opened amid uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the number of cases in France having risen again in recent days.

Weather conditions, however, produced the biggest challenge for riders on the 156-kilometre opening stage in Nice which led to a series of crashes in the peloton.

Ineos Grenadier’s Pavel Sivakov was among the riders most impacted as the Russian crashed twice on his Tour de France debut, where he will aim to support defending champion Egan Bernal.

Some of Bernal’s main rivals were among those to endure crashes with fellow Colombian Nairo Quintana and Dutch star Tom Dumoulin both affected, while Sam Bennett of Ireland and Australia’s Caleb Ewan also suffered as they aimed to contest a bunch sprint.

The conditions led to German veteran Tony Martin encouraging riders to neutralise the race.

His call was eventually heeded after an attack by Astana ultimately resulted in Spanish rider Ion Izagirre crashing on a descent in the challenging conditions.

Racing resumed in the closing 30 kilometres, with teams turning their attentions to the sprint finish.

A final crash came inside the last three kilometres, with French general classification hope Thibaut Pinot among the biggest names to fall.

Kristoff emerged as the winner of the sprint, with the 33-year-old timing his effort impressively to triumph in a time of 3 hours, 46min and 23sec.

Reigning world champion Mads Pedersen of Denmark finished as the runner-up, with The Netherlands’ Cees Bol and Bennett completing the top four.

Kristoff now has four Tour de France stage victories in his career, while he takes the yellow jersey for the first time.

Racing is set to continue tomorrow with a 186km climbing stage, leaving general classification contenders hoping to recover from any injuries sustained on today’s crash impacted stage little time before the first major contest between the favourites.

Organisers have vowed to continually adjust operations and health and safety measures as the situation evolves and in accordance with guidance from French authorities.

Protocols will be in place to ensure limited attendance of spectators, social distancing and enhanced cleaning measures at the race, with health and safety asserted as being the top priority.

Spectators have been told to stay two metres away from riders, along with using masks and hand sanitiser should they attend.