Millar felled by dog

A dog disrupted David Millar’s progress from Rotterdam to Brussels as the Tour de France hit the road today.

The 33-year-old Scot, who finished third in yesterday’s opening prologue, was in a borrowed green jersey as the 97th Tour embarked on the first road stage, the 223.5-kilometres from Holland to Belgium.

But on the Dutch coast, with 165km to go to the Belgian capital and with a three-man break further up the road, a dog was off its lead and ran into the peloton, felling Millar and forcing the Scot to change his bike.

The progress of Ivan Basso (Liquigas) was also interrupted, but it was Millar who was left chasing, ditching his bike with green handlebars for a replacement.

Millar was wearing a maillot vert reserved for his Team Garmin-Transitions colleague Tyler Farrar, who the Scot confidently predicted before today’s stage would win the anticipated bunch sprint.

Mark Cavendish is another contender for the win, with the Manxman looking to claim his 11th Tour career victory.

Millar was soon back in the peloton, after tucking in behind the car of his former team Cofidis to be dragged back to the pack.

The three riders in the breakaway were Dutchman Lars Boom (Rabobank) – in 32nd place following the prologue – Belgian Maarten Wynants (QuickStep) and Spaniard Alan Perez Lezaun (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

The peloton contains 195 riders, but Millar appeared to show no ill-effects from his canine collision.

From the original start list, Spaniard Xavier Florencio was missing after being withdrawn on Friday by his Cervelo Test Team after he used a product containing a banned substance.

Two riders involved in crashes yesterday – BMC Racing’s Mathias Frank, who broke his right thumb, suffered a torn muscle in his left thigh and badly cut his lip, and Footon-Servetto’s Manuel Cardoso, who suffered a fractured jaw and shoulder – were unable to start today’s stage, which went out to the North Sea from Rotterdam, before entering Belgium.

A bunch sprint finish was anticipated, but with street furniture and a number of tight corners in the final stages to a slight uphill finish, further crashes would not be unexpected.