Alejandro Valverde, one of the favourites of this year's edition of the Tour de France, won the opening stage of the race on July 5 to take the yellow jersey.

The 28-year-old leader of the Caisse d'Epargne team powered past Kim Kirchen on the last hundred meters to win the 197.5km stage between Brest and Plumelec, his second stage win in the Tour.

Valverde's best finish in the Tour was sixth last year, but in the absence of defending champion Alberto Contador, he is considered to be one of the top contenders this year, having won one of the main races in the build-up to the Tour de France, the Criterium du Dauphine Libere.

"I already had plenty of confidence but this is a real boost. It’s early to take the leader’s jersey, but it will last as long as it can. We’ll try to defend it over the coming days but the important thing is to have the yellow jersey in Paris," Valverde said, as quoted by the Tour's official website letour.com.

Last year's runner-up, Australian Cadel Evans, who started the race with the yellow jersey, finished the stage sixth, one second behind Valverde.

Other Tour contenders like Russia's Denis Menshov, Spain's Carlos Sastre and Italian Damiano Cunego, finished seven seconds behind the leader.

Frenchman Lilian Jegou led the first attack of the 2008 Tour de France three km into the race and was soon joined by seven more riders. At one point, the group had nearly seven minutes on the peloton.

But as is usual, a number of teams stepped up several gears as the end of the stage approached and the last two breakaways, Jegou and Spaniard David de la Fuente, were caught with about 10km to go. The duo finished two minutes behind Valverde.

The first stage of the Tour also featured the first withdrawal of this year's Tour de France, with team Cofidis' Hervé Duclos-Lassalle breaking his left wrist and abandoning less than 100km into the race.

The next stage between Auray and Saint-Brieuc is 164.5km and will give sprinters another chance to stake a claim for glory and the green points jersey.