Defending champion Chris Froome showed surprisingly good sprinting skills when he finished 6th in today's first stage of the Tour de France. The Brit said that he had mixed it up with teh fast guys to ensure that the team will have a good car position in tomorrow's tricky stage.

The Tour de France got off to an incredible start in Yorkshire with Team Sky supporting Chris Froome to sixth place on stage one.

A top-10 finish was an unexpected result for Froome who was able to dodge a late crash in the final metres in Harrogate before driving for the line.

The accident saw Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma – Quick-Step) and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) collide and bring each other down in front of a surging peloton. That allowed Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) to power clear to take the opening stage and, for the second year running, pull on the first yellow jersey of the race.

Picking an early lead in the team classification, Team Sky rallied around Froome for the entire stage as massive crowds came out to support the world’s biggest bike race as it kicked off on UK roads.

The Brit was untroubled as the peloton split apart on the tough Buttertubs climb and with the help of Geraint Thomas and Bernhard Eisel was on his toes in the crash-marred finale which saw Cavendish cross the line in visible pain.

"The crowds out there were incredible – second to none," said Froome after the stage.

"It was relatively straightforward today. I think everyone knew it was going to come down to a bunch sprint. It was just a shame for Cav obviously in the final. It would have been nice to have a British victory today but that’s racing.

"I’m feeling good. Today was more about staying out of trouble and getting to the finish without big issues. The guys did a good job of keeping out of harm’s way. I knew car positioning is quite a big issue and I realise we don’t really have a sprinter here so it would be good to get a good position for tomorrow. I was just well positioned. The crash with Cav happened on the left and I was on the right.

"Tomorrow is going to be a really tough stage. The crowds out on the climbs today were massive. At one point we only had about a metre and a half to ride on the road. I think we can expect the same tomorrow. The crowds were well behaved but if anything I’d just ask if the crowds could give us a bit of space."

After the stage Thomas also recalled a tough finish: “I was with Froomey, maybe 20, or 30 riders back, I saw some people leaning then all of a sudden there was just bodies on the floor, fortunately we managed to avoid it because we were going quite slow up the last hill," he told Eurosport.

“It was all about being in a decent position going into that last drag, Bernie Eisel did a great job and I sort of just shepherded Froomey, and then all of a sudden with a kilometre to go he just sprints past me and starts going! But he’s obviously in good form, he’s keen to just stay out of trouble so sixth is a nice little result for him.

“The crowds are just unbelievable, it’s like being in a disco for a few hours, my ears are ringing now. I really enjoyed it, the biggest bike race in the world coming to the UK.

“I think a lot could happen tomorrow, that last climb is challenging, we did it in a recon and it’s one of those, a bit like San Remo style of racing, people go and it’s touch and go whether or not it will come back.”