Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe recovered from a crash to win the first stage of the Tour de France, an incident-strewn 197.8-km ride from Brest, to take the inaugural leader's yellow jersey.
The world champion burst away from the main pack with 2.3km left of a brutal climb up to the Cote de la Fosse aux Loups, and none of his rivals could match his power.
Australian Michael Matthews took second place, with Slovenian Primoz Roglic coming home third, eight seconds behind, with most of the top favourites including defending champion Tadej Pogacar and 2018 winner Geraint Thomas on their wheels.
The stage was hit by two massive crashes that brought down numerous riders. Among them were four-time champion Chris Froome, who looked in pain as he climbed on his bike again after being sent down in the second crash 7.5km from the finish.
The Briton, who has little hope of winning the race after failing to rediscover top form following a horror crash two years ago, ended the stage almost 15 minutes off the pace.
In the first crash, German Tony Martin was sent tumbling when he rode straight into a cardboard sign being held out by a fan looking the other way at a television camera, creating chaos with 47 kilometres left of the stage.