(Benoit Tessier/Pool via AP)LAVAUR The most furious day of racing so far at the Tour de France produced multiple winners Friday. Among them were Alexander Kristoff, the winner of Stage 1, and Caleb Ewan, who won Stage 3. In a mid-stage sprint and again later at the finish, Sagan picked up sufficient points to wrest back the jersey from Bennett. He also won Stage 5. ___More Tour de France coverage: https://apnews.com/TourdeFrance and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

And yet, despite all this, the opening weekend of the Tour still set hearts racing, with dramatic spills on the rain-slickened opening day followed by Alaphilippe's poignant win. Yet the show, for now at least, is most definitely on with Alaphilippe back in the race leader's iconic yellow jersey, once again showing the way. I will defend it with honor.The stage win was his fifth in four Tours. With teammate Bob Jungels leading the way on the final climb, up to the Quatre Chemins pass on the outskirts of Nice, Alaphilippe first positioned himself in his slipstream. The yellow jersey is the icing on the cake.Afterward, slumped by the roadside, he burst into tears.

Alexander Kristoff of Norway celebrates on the podium after winning the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 156 kilometers (97 miles) with start and finish in Nice, southern France, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020. Riders will have daily health checks and coronavirus tests during the race, and can be tossed out if they fail them. Entire teams could be sent home if two or more riders or staff test positive for COVID-19 within a week. But the Tour, delayed from July, survived and is becoming a gauge of the feasibility of continuing to hold sporting mega-events during the pandemic. Another crash took out a heap of riders in the dash to the line on Nice's splendid seafront.