Le Tour: Stage 1…

Robbie McEwen bounced back from a late crash to win the first full stage of the Tour de France after an enthralling bunch sprint in Canterbury.

The Australian looked out of contention with three miles left, but somehow snaked through the peloton to prevail.

Briton David Millar led a breakaway for much of the day, and was rewarded with the King of the Mountains jersey but he ran out of steam with 50km left. Fellow Brit Mark Cavendish, hit by bike troubles, was 2'45" behind the pack. Hopes were high that his T-Mobile team would set the 22-year-old Isle of Man rider up for a shot at a memorable home stage victory. But Cavendish encountered technical problems late on and was forced to change bikes, putting him out of the picture.

Fabian Cancellara held onto the overall leader's yellow jersey following his prologue win, while Millar jumped up to third in those standings after landing time bonuses on the road.

But the day belonged to McEwen, who also claimed the green jersey after holding off key rivals Thor Hushovd and Tom Boonen in the sprint.

Millar was rewarded for his aggressive cycling with the polka dot jersey, becoming the first Brit since Robert Millar in 1986 to lead the climbers' standings.

Stage One: London-Canterbury (203km):
001. Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto).4:39:01
002. Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole).......+0
003. Tom Boonen (Quickstep-Innergetic)....+0
004. Sebastien Chavanel (Francaise Jeux)..+0
005. Romain Feillu (Agritubel)............+0
Selected others:
042. Geraint Thomas (Barloworld)..........+0
064. David Millar (Saunier Duval).........+0
086. Bradley Wiggins (Cofidis)............+0
143. Charles Wegelius (Liquigas)..........+0
186. Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile).........+2:45

General classification (Yellow) after Stage 1:
001. Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC)....4:47:51
002. Andreas Kloden (Astana).............+13
003. David Millar (Saunier Duval)........+21
004. George Hincapie (Discovery Channel).+23
005. Bradley Wiggins (Cofidis)...........+23
Selected others:
043. Geraint Thomas (Barloworld).........+47
089. Charles Wegelius (Liquigas).........+56
185. Mark Cavendish (T-Mobile).........+3:37

Points (Green Jersey):
1 Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto).....35 pts
2 Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole)......30
3 Tom Boonen (BQuickstep-Innergetic)..26

Mountains classification (Polkadot Jersey):
1 David Millar (Saunier Duval).........5 pts
2 Stéphane Augé (Cofidis)..............5
3 Freddy Bichot (Agritubel)............3

Young rider classification (White Jersey)
1 Vladimir Gusev (Discovery Channel).4:48:16
2 Thomas Dekker (Rabobank)...............+06
3 Benoît Vaugrenard (Française d Jeux)...+07